PSU men's soccer falls in regular season finale in 2-OT to EastConn.

The PSU Men's soccer team lost in their 2009 regular season finale to Eastern Connecticut State University in double overtime by a score of 3-2 at Panther Field on Saturday, October 31.

With the loss, PSU finishes up their regular season with an overall record of 9-8 and a Little East Conference record of 3-4. The win propels EastConn. into a tie for first place in the LEC with a conference record of 6-1 and an overall record of 14-4-1. EastConn. now shares the LEC regular season championship with Keene State College.

After trailing EastConn. in the early goings of the game by a 1-0 deficit, PSU notched the game at a 1-1 tie when sophomore captain Dre Cabral scored in the 50th minute of the game. PSU would go on to take a 2-1 lead a little over a minute later when senior Semir Mehmedovic put one past EastConn. sophomore goalie Carl Appel. That lead would prove not to be large enough for PSU as EastConn. would tie the game in the 73rd minutes as first-year student Cory Tobler scored on an unassisted goal. Three minutes into the second overtime, EastConn. sealed the victory when sophomore Matt Furman scored on a goal assited by Tobler.

PSU first-year student and goalie Bjorn Ohlsson made three saves on the day while giving up one goal before getting injured in the second half. His junior teammate Dan Salzer filled in for him and gave up the other two goals. Carl Appel was solid in front of the net for EastConn. while making seven saves and giving up two goals.Although PSU came up a little short, their head coach, Rob Wright was pleased with their effort, "I think that we played extremely well and we are all devastated to have lost right at the end," said Wright, "Our guys were exhausted afterwards...they gave everything they had to try and win the game. It was a very competitive game with a lot of high quality soccer."

Wright was excited about the way PSU came out in the second half, but felt momentum changed when his first year goalie suffered an injury in the second half, "We wanted to get at ECSU early, press high, and really attack them off the dribble. The first half was very tight and of course they caught us out to have a 1 -0 lead, but we went over the plan again at half time, changed a few small things and went out and played very well to take a 2-0 lead," said Wright, "Unfortunately for us, I think that the game turned on Bjorn Ohlsson's injury mid way through the second half."

This was PSU's final regular season game of the year and are currently on the outside looking in when it comes to postseason play. When asked after the game what his thoughts about the regular season were, coach Wright stated "We are all very frustrated. I think that we should only have lost the one game versus Middlebury but we made silly mistakes and did not score enough goals. Injuries to key players definitely hurt us but we should have been more ruthless in many of the games, said Wright, "We are still hopeful that the fact that we have played and beaten so many good teams will be enough to keep our season going with an ECAC bid."

PSU will now wait to see if they receive an ECAC tournament bid.