The story line is entertaining, and is becoming familiar.
The Concord men’s soccer team spots its opponent the lead, then rallies for a thrilling finish.
Tuesday night, the thrilling finish came with a happy ending, as the Mountain Lions defeated Bluefield College 2-1 in a non-conference match in the East River Soccer Complex in Bluefield, WV.
Both sides played conservatively at the start. The Ramblin’ Rams kept the ball in the Concord end for long stretches early, but the Mountain Lions’ offense found a rhythm toward the end of the first half and CU had the advantage in shots on goal (5-3) and corner kicks (3-2) at halftime.
“We kept possession better than them and were a bit more direct,” Coach Steve Barrett said. “I told the guys at halftime to just keep on maintaining possession of the ball, and that if we’d keep possession good things would happen.”
Concord continued to press the attack to start the second half. CU narrowly missed scoring chances when Rams goalkeeper Jeff Field overran a bouncing ball in the box in the 50th minute, then again three minutes later when a header in heavy traffic hit off the crossbar.
Bluefield College withstood the pressure and began to harass Concord’s defense. Their forays paid off when Tim Lavoie scored off an assist from Nago Mbengue with 23:25 remaining in regulation.
“We got down by a goal and a bit of adversity would creep in – which is what this team has been known for a little bit,” Barrett said. “But they knuckled down and got the (next) goal pretty quick, then got another, and it was a good win.”
Concord got the equalizer from sophomore Zach Piekarski (Crystal Lake, IL/Prairie Ridge HS), assisted by junior Varney Vincent (Liberia/Pearisburg, VA/Giles HS) with 17:07 to go.
Barrett had changed Piekarski’s position in a bid to kick-start Concord’s offense. “Tonight it came from the midfield, but I won’t complain – we’ll take them any way we can get,” Barrett said. “With Zach, we switched him -- put him into the midfield after we’d played him in the back all season. We tried something different. He got forward there, he ball dropped to him, and he put it away.”
Less than four minutes after that, redshirt freshman Frankie Parks (Tucson, AZ/Tucson Magnet HS) rushed down the right side of the BC defense, drilled the ball past Fields, and put Concord ahead 2-1 at 13:00.
“Frankie ran all the way from midfield, similar to what Varney did in the game against Ohio Valley to get the winner (September 17),” said Barrett. “He took it the length, kept his composure and put it inside the far post to finish it. Frankie showed a lot of composure to stay with that play and stroke the ball in.”
The Ramblin’ Rams pressed their lineup forward and threatened to tie the match near the end. But Concord freshman goalkeeper Jamie Greenwood (Chelmsford, England) made two big deflections in the 89th minute to help secure the victory.
“They’re going to press and send more players forward. We would do the same thing,” Barrett said. “(Greenwood) has come up big before for us, absolutely. That’s what he’s in for – to be a shot-stopper. He’s a good keeper.”
Concord improved to 4-4 with the victory. The Mountain Lions, 1-2 in the WVIAC, return to conference play with a visit to Seton Hill on Saturday, September 26. Kickoff will be at 1:00 pm EDT, following the women’s game between the Mountain Lions and Griffins in Greensburg, PA.