Oct. 4, 2009

Box Score

Johnson City, Tenn. - When USC Upstate and East Tennessee State meet on the field for men's soccer, 90 minutes just haven't been enough time to decide the outcome as both meetings between the schools have gone into extra time. Despite being outshot 26-6 in regulation, Upstate managed to send the game into overtime with a bend but don't break style of defense and earned a 0-0 tie and the program's first shutout in the Division I era Sunday afternoon in A-Sun action.

Upstate and ETSU played their second straight overtime contest in the brief series. Last year, the Buccaneers took a 2-1 victory in overtime to secure the first win between the two schools.

Upstate stands 3-4-1 overall and 0-0-1 with one point in the A-Sun with the tie. The Spartans will travel to Campbell Thursday night for a 7:00 start. ETSU is 1-4-3 overall and 0-0-1 with one point in the conference.

"We will take that tie, obviously," said Upstate head coach Greg Hooks. "A tie on the road in the conference is almost like a win of sorts. Once we saw that we weren't able to posses the ball consistently, we made the decision to defend the ball. Pat (Regna) did a good job. Nick (Buxton) and John (Kadane) did a good job in the back helping us defend.

"When they have the ball that much, it takes some luck and some guys giving some pretty heroic efforts to get a tie. There may be a rare exception, but every conference game is going to be a fight like this. And that's not just us, but throughout the conference. The margin of victory is going to be very small."

Upstate withstood early offensive production by ETSU in the first half. The Buccaneers took three shots and two corner kicks in the first 23 minutes of play, but none of the shots found the back of the net as the score remained 0-0. The Spartans dodged a bullet when Tony Nunez's shot hit the crossbar in the 24th minute.

ETSU continued to press and Upstate goalkeeper Pat Regna made his first save of the afternoon in the 27th minute on a shot by Aaron Schoenfeld. It would be the first of five Buccaneer shots in a span of 5:40. However, only Schoenfeld's shot was placed on goal and Regna made the save to keep ETSU off the scoreboard.

Upstate took a pair of shots in the first 20 minutes, but did not attempt a shot in the final 24:41 of the half as ETSU took a 9-2 lead in shots into halftime.

After playing an aggressive first half, ETSU continued to press the issue offensively in the second half, but Upstate maintained a stiff back row defense. The Buccaneers took 17 shots in the second half, compared to just four for Upstate.

Upstate's Regna and a collective defensive effort allowed the Spartans to take the game into overtime. Only four of ETSU's second half shots were put on goal and Regna made the save on all four shots to keep the Buccaneers off the scoreboard. In addition to Regna's play, the Spartans' defense also came up big by blocking three of ETSU's shots.

Both teams made a last-ditch effort to end the game in regulation. After a yellow card was issued to an ETSU player with 58 seconds to play in the half, Isaiah Ferguson took a shot which was blocked by the ETSU defense. Nick Buxton took control and fired a shot over the goal. ETSU countered and was awarded a corner kick with 15 seconds to play and Schoenfeld's header with nine seconds remaining was saved by Regna as the teams headed to overtime.

The Upstate defense blocked a pair of ETSU shots in the first overtime period and a third Buccaneer shot sailed wide left of the goal as the teams moved into the second overtime period looking to decide the match.

Upstate dodged another bullet in the second overtime period when Sean Hoek's shot hit the crossbar with 6:26 to play in the match. It was the first of four shots in the period for ETSU, but none of the four found the net as Upstate managed to hold on for the tie.

ETSU finished the game with a 33-6 lead in shots and a 10-2 advantage in corner kicks.