UMW Men Beat NC Wesleyan in OT Thriller, 3-2

The University of Mary Washington men's soccer team fought back from an early two goal deficit to earn a thrilling 3-2 overtime victory Wednesday over North Carolina Wesleyan College at the Battleground on the campus of the University of Mary Washington. The Eagles improve to 5-4 on the season with the victory, while handing the Battling Bishops their first loss of the year.

NC Wesleyan took an early one goal advantage when Andri Bjarnason scored an unassisted goal just 17 seconds into the game on a strike from 40 yards out. Bjarnason added a second goal at the 36:16 mark in the first half from about the same distance to put NC Wesleyan up 2-0 heading into halftime.

The Eagles stormed back in the second half to tie the match with two goals. Junior Kevin Murphy scored Mary Washington's first goal 20 minutes into the second half to pull the Eagles within one. Junior David Heller evened the score 10 minutes later with a well-placed header off a corner kick from junior Tommy Sangbousy.

The Eagles took control early in the first overtime period, keeping the pressure on NC Wesleyan goaltender Nathan Mangione. With just over two minutes off the clock, Murphy found Sangbouasy in front of the goal for the winning strike. Sangbouasy had a hand in all three Mary Washington goals with two assists and one goal on the day.

Mary Washington will be in action again Saturday as they travel to Marymount (Va.) University for a 7 P.M. match.