DeLand, Fla. ? Senior defender Richard Porteous scored the golden goal in the first minute of overtime to give Stetson (5-5-2, 2-2-1) a 1-0 win over the University of North Florida (7-8-0, 3-3-0) on Sunday at the Stetson Soccer Complex.
It was a game that seemed headed towards a disastrous ending for the home team. The Hatters thoroughly dominated regulation play, yet could not finish with a go-ahead goal. Stetson made run after run and challenged Ospreys goalkeeper Tony Restino (Fort Myers, Fla.) on numerous occasions. Restino stopped the first 10 shots on goal yet could not come up with the last one.
Disaster was averted by the stingiest defense in the Atlantic Sun Conference. Stetson allowed no goals and just seven UNF shots, two of which were on goal. On the season the Hatters are #1 in the A-Sun with just 15 goals allowed on the season.
Freshman goalkeeper Logan Potter (Merritt Island, Fla.) made the first start of his young career, made two saves and finished with his first shutout.
When asked how he felt notching his first career win and shutout Potter was humble in his response.
“It felt really good but my defense made it easy. Richard Porteous' defense had a lot to do with it today. And he made a great play scoring the winner in overtime,” he said.
The game winner came at 90:42 when Stetson took the overtime kickoff and made a quick charge on goal. Freshman Fredrik Brustad (Oslo, Norway) managed to slip a pass deep into the box. Porteous pounced on the bouncing ball and found the back of the net for his second goal of the season.
“It was good to see the energy put forth by our guys,” said Head Coach Logan Fleck. “The effort proved itself by the amount of shots we had on goal.”
Stetson finished with a 26-7 advantage in shots and was up 11-2 in shots on goal. Kevin Munz (Jupiter, Fla.) played inspired offense leading the Hatters with six shots, four of which were on goal.
The Hatters will travel to Nashville next weekend to take on Lipscomb on Friday, 8:30 p.m. and Belmont on Sunday at 3:00 p.m.
