Box Score
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LYNCHBURG, VA— A loose ball led to a golden goal for Liberty as the Winthrop men's soccer team suffered a 3-2 double-overtime loss, Saturday afternoon in Big South Conference action.

A long ball had been sent over the top of the Eagles defense as Tanner Wilcox ran on and headed it toward goal near the top of the box, but Guilherme Avelar made the save. The ball then deflected right to the foot of Tyler Bullock who took a touch and blasted the ball toward goal that got by a Winthrop defender standing on the line.

Much of the game was played in heavy rain and strong wind as the Eagles suffer their third straight loss after allowing a season-high three goals and are now 7-3-1 overall and 1-2 in the league. Liberty evens its overall record to 5-5 and is now 2-3 in the Big South.

Winthrop didn't have a lot of bounces go its way much of the afternoon, but it got a bounce it desperately needed in the 86^th minute. Pol Sole ripped a shot at the top of the box that hit a player, shot into the air and over the head of Liberty goalkeeper Jeremy Lee and into the net. This came as the Eagles were playing with 10 men after Mason Lavallet was given his second yellow card of the match on a collision with Lee despite Lavallet's efforts to avoid contact.

After pressing and pressing and nearly scoring several times the Eagles finally found the back of the net in the 79^th minute as Adriano Negri was set up one-on-one with the keeper and pushed the ball by with a shot and was then taken out. A penalty shot was awarded and Adam Brundle stepped right in and buried the shot.

Moments before the goal, Magnus Thorsson popped the ball up in the air with his back to goal at the six yard box and biked the ball toward goal as Lee got a piece but the ball was headed into the goal as Achille Obougou ran on and hammered the ball into the net right on the goal line and was whistled for an offside to negate the goal.

The first goal of the game came in the 39^th minute after Liberty was awarded a penalty on a counter attack. Tim Harbison stepped up and placed a shot into the lower right corner just out of the reach of Avelar, who had guess correctly.

Immediately after the goal the Eagles pressed for the equalizer as Max Hasenstab free in the box heading toward Lee from an angle and tried to beat him far post, but Lee got just enough on it to keep it out and the defense cleared the ball away.

Liberty snatched a 2-0 lead at the half with a goal off a set piece with nine seconds remaining in the first. Harbison stepped out to take the corner kick and his service caught the wind and bended into the near post beating Avelar as he tried to punch it out but the ball skipped into the goal.

It was the second straight game the Eagles gave up two goals in the first half after allowing just three in the first half in the first eight games of the season. It was also the second straight game Winthrop allowed a goal in the final minute of the first half.

The best scoring chance of the second half came off the foot of Obougou in the 54^th minute who collected the ball and worked his way toward a left-footed shot to the right Liberty's Lee as the shot was headed toward the top right corner over the head of Lee, but he dove back and just tipped the shot over the bar. The shot came just moments after Obougou had been given a pass to set him up on a breakaway, but the ball got caught up in his feet and was unable to break free.

Another great chance came minutes later when Cody Winter played a long ball that was collected by Obougou and flicked backwards to Pol Sole running on but as Sole was about to have a shot from the top of the six a Liberty defender came through and tackled the ball out of bounds for a corner. That came in the 58^th minute. Sole had another great  chance when a cross on the ground skipped to his feet straight on goal from 10 yards, but his shot was blocked and then collected by Lee.  

Avelar finished with eight saves in the game while Lee made seven as Liberty finished with a 23-14 advantage in shots.

This was the third straight regular season meeting that Winthrop and Liberty went into overtime and the second time in the last three meetings the game went to double-overtime.

Winthrop will be back in action on Wednesday, Oct. 16 when it returns home to take on nationally-ranked Coastal Carolina at 6 p.m.