BALTIMORE, Md. – The Cairn University men's soccer team scored the final two goals of the contest en-route to a 3-3 draw in their season opener on the road against Goucher College on Thursday afternoon. According to new NCAA overtime regulations, overtime will not be played in regular season matches in the 2022 campaign.
Cairn (0-0-1) traded shots throughout the first half with Goucher (0-0-1), and neither team found the back of the net until the 39th minute when Goucher's Abou Makine put up the only goal of the half, sending the Highlanders into halftime down, 1-0.
In the second half, the Highlanders answered early, capitalizing on a corner kick as graduate student defender
Josh Goodyear (Camp Hill, PA / Camp Hill H.S.) netted Cairn's first goal off of a feed from senior midfielder
Aaron Campbell (Coopersburg, PA / Upper Bucks Christian School) in the 58th minute.
Goucher answered quickly with two goals in the 60th and 62nd minutes by Bobby Beringer and Yaya Diabagate, respectively, putting Goucher up 3-1 with 28 minutes to go in the half. Cairn's retaliation started in the form of sophomore midfielder
Moses Beers' (Lancaster, PA / Manheim Township) made penalty kick in the 74th minute to cut the lead to 3-2, after the Gopher's fouled the Highlanders inside the box.
Cairn sophomore goalkeeper
Chris Eelman (North Haledon, NJ / Hawthorne Christian Academy) made two crucial saves in the closing minutes to give the Highlanders a chance to tie the contest. Cairn made the most of that opportunity in the 85th minute, as sophomore forward
Jesse Brittain (Chester, PA / The Christian Academy) found fifth-year defender
Tyler Skaer (Brookhaven, PA / Penn State-Brandywine) streaking down the center of the pitch, and Skaer delivered the tying goal to knot that game up at 3-3, a score that would hold for the remainder of the contest.
Goucher held the advantage in shots (20-13) and shots on goal (10-8) while Eelman secured a career-high seven saves in a complete-game effort.
The Highlanders are back on the road Saturday at 1 p.m. against King's College in Wilkes-Barre, Pa.
