Huskies And VCU Battle To 1-1 Draw

by Matt Houde
September 29, 2012

RICHMOND, Va. – Trailing 1-0 at halftime, Don Anding netted the equalizer 13 minutes into the second half and Oliver Blum made five saves to help the Northeastern men's soccer team (5-1-2) battle to a 1-1 draw at VCU (4-1-3) on Saturday night at Sports Backers Stadium.

Anding scored his fourth goal of the week in the 58 minute of the match off a feed from Dante Marini that beat VCU goalkeeper Andrew Wells (two saves) to the left. The Rams outshot NU 18-11 (6-2 shots on goal) for the game, and generated 10 corner kicks to the Huskies' four.

The Rams brought pressure early and often on the Huskies throughout the first half, outshooting NU 9-3 (2-1 shots on goal), earning six corner kicks and taking a 1-0 lead on a goal from Jason Johnson.

Johnson netted his sixth goal of the season in the 13th minute as he collected a through ball from Nate Shiffman and buried a shot past Blum and into the left corner of the net.

The Huskies' best chance of the first 45 minutes of play came in the opening moments as Terence Carter ran down a loose ball and put a shot towards goal that was blocked, resulting in NU's lone corner opportunity of the half. Following the corner, Donovan Fayd'Herbe de Maudave fired a shot that was steered aside by Wells.

Anding went to work as the teams came out of the halftime break, first with a hard shot on goal from the top of the box just as the second half began, and then netting the equalizer in the 58th minute.

With Marini controlling the ball in the attacking third, he made a quick cut and hit Anding with a pass in the box, and the senior forward blasted a low shot past Wells for his sixth goal of the season.

Anding nearly netted his second of the match just 10 minutes later as Nick Goo threaded a pass across to Anding on the right side, but his bid went just wide.

Blum would help keep the game tied late in regulation with several big saves, most notable a diving stop on Juan Arbelaez in the in the 82nd minute, sending the match to overtime.

The teams played an even first overtime with each squad logging one shot. In the second overtime, Blum made sure that the match remained deadlocked with a big save on Devon Fisher in the 106th minute to preserve the tie.

Northeastern caught a break in the 71st minute as VCU 's Assane Keita was issued his second yellow card of the match following a collision with Blum after a free kick, forcing the Rams to play down a man for the remainder of the game.

The Huskies return to CAA play on Wednesday as Northeastern travels to Drexel for a 7 p.m. match with the Dragons.

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