Jacksonville, Fla. - Junior defender Luis Ocejo (Mexico City, Mexico) picked a terrific time to score his first career goal, striking in the 87th minute to help the Stetson men's soccer team (3-4-1) to a 2-2 draw with George Washington (2-3-1) on Sunday in the Jacksonville Soccer Classic at the Ashley Sports Complex.
Stetson got on the scoreboard first when junior midfielder Jonathan Mendoza (Bogota, Colombia) put home his sixth goal of the seaon, a rebound header in the 38th minute assisted by senior forward Ryan Asare-Bediako (Tampa, Fla.).
That lead would vanish in the blink of an eye, however, as a corner kick 26 seconds later led to GWU's Seth Rudolph knocking one into the top right corner of the net off serves from Bailey Hinners and Toni Berhanu. The Hatters and Colonials went into halftime knotted 1-1.
Much of the second half passed without scoring, but a foul on Stetson inside the box resulted in the awarding of a penalty kick to George Washington in the 73rd minute. Berhanu took the kick from the spot and delivered his Colonials a 2-1 advantage.
As the minutes and seconds dwindled down, the Hatters pushed forward to achieve the equalizing goal. They finally struck paydirt with just three and a half minutes remaining when Ocejo struck a hard, low shot from the top of the box past goalkeeper Brendan Lafferty.
Stetson would go on to out-shoot GWU 3-1 in overtime and double overtime, but neither team would score again as Stetson tied for the first time since Oct. 31, 2010 at home against Jacksonville and the first time away from DeLand since Oct. 16, 2009 at USC Upstate.
Sophomore goalkeeper Andreas Schnabl (Blaichach, Germany) made three saves for the Hatters while Lafferty recorded the same total for the Colonials in 110 minutes each. The Hatters will be back in action at 7:00 pm Friday, September 30 when they open Atlantic Sun Conference play against defending regular season champion FGCU. Live Stats and Hatter Vision will be available at GoHatters.com.
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