WOOSTER, Ohio – Liam Pender scored with 5:57 remaining in double overtime, lifting The College of Wooster to an exciting 2-1 victory over Earlham College in Saturday afternoon's non-league men's soccer match at Carl Dale Field.
After an uneventful first overtime, Wooster (4-2-1) went on the attack early in the second and its third attempt was true. Following a restart, the ball was sent into the box where Earlham (0-8) was unable to clear, and amongst the scramble, Pender got free and slid a low shot just inside the left post. It marked the sophomore's third career goal.
The Quakers had a series of offensive chances during the first half and eventually scored on their ninth attempt when Tamru Taye dribbled down the right end line and chipped a pass that floated through the box to Corey Campbell, who drove it in near the left post during the 31st minute.
Trailing 1-0, the Fighting Scots' defense buckled down from that point on. In fact, they limited Earlham to just five shots the rest of the way.
Wooster earned a number of opportunities for the equalizer goal. Late in the first half, Adam Hansell nearly headed in a pair of shots. Then, about 15 minutes into the second, the Scots took advantage of one of their 11 corner kicks on the day, as Jonathan Fox delivered the ball right in front of the goal and Noah Wagemann used his head to deflect it into the right side of the net for his team-high fourth score this season.
Shortly after, a Quaker defender was issued a red card, thus giving Wooster a man-advantage for the remaining 28:51 of regulation and the overtimes. From there, most of the play was spent in the Earlham defensive half, and the Scots had a couple of near-misses by Josh Dailey and Zach Jergan, as the Quakers' Sam Embry kept his squad in it with some nice saves.
Embry, who entered in place of the injured starter during the second half, tallied four saves over 38:53 of action, while Taylor Takacs was credited with six in the complete-game win.
Wooster next gets into North Coast Athletic Conference play by hosting Wabash College (4-3-1) on Oct. 1, at 3 p.m.
