By Crystal Gibson

St. Mary's City, Md. – The St. Mary's College of Maryland men's soccer team battled the Wolverines of Wesley College in Capital Athletic Conference action Saturday afternoon to a 4-3 double overtime triumph, making for an exciting and memorable Senior Day.

First-year forward Adam Kratz (Owings, Md./Northern) tallied the game-winning goal in the 103rd minute to give the Seahawks the all-important conference victory.

Before the game got underway today, the five Seahawk seniors – forward Matt Braun (Bowie, Md./DeMatha Catholic), defenders Alexander Driessen (Columbia, Md./Wilde Lake) and Ben Haman (Ellicott City, Md./Mt. Hebron), midfielder Rickie Kalama (Bel Air, Md./Aberdeen), and goalkeeper Nate Ramsland (Catonsville, Md./Mount Saint Joseph) were honored.

The Seahawks (8-7-0, 4-2-0 CAC) and Wesley (7-6-1, 2-4-0 CAC) traded goals the entire match with St. Mary's scoring two of the first three goals, only to see the Wolverines connect on two consecutive goals to take a 3-2 lead late in the second half. However, the large crowd at Seahawk Stadium watched as the Seahawks battled back with the tying goal in the 84th minute and won it in overtime.

St. Mary's opened up the scoring action at 17:21 as first-year forward Alessandro Burlew (Mount Airy, Md./Good Counsel) converted his fifth goal of the season off a pass from sophomore midfielder Yonah Zeitz (Potomac, Md./Edmund Burke) to put the Seahawks ahead 1-0.

Wesley quickly answered with a goal at 19:48 as sophomore Thomas Franz (Marriotsville, Md./Liberty) scored off an assist from senior Holden Wingate (Millville, Md./Indian River). The Seahawks' second goal came in the 23rd minute as Braun netted his fifth goal of the season off an assist from sophomore midfielder Nick Tait (Silver Spring, Md./Sandy Spring Friends).

After the scoring onslaught of the first 23 minutes, both teams would be held scoreless for the remainder twenty-two minutes of the opening half.

It was the Wolverines who came out in the second half fired up, netting two goals to turn a one-goal deficit into a one-goal lead. Wesley held onto the lead until Tait converted an unassisted goal, his fifth on the season, at 83:32 for a 3-3 deadlock. Following the Tait goal, the Wolverines were forced to play a man down for the remainder of action as they received an unsportsmanlike red card.

After both teams were unable to penetrate each other's defense in the first overtime period, St. Mary's secured the victory at 102:52 with Kratz's goal as he finished off a pass from Zeitz who recorded his second assist of the match.

St. Mary's held a 14-11 edge in shots, including a 2-1 advantage in extra time. The Seahawks also posted an 8-5 advantage in corner kicks.

First-year goalkeeper Zack Haussler (Woodbine, Md./Glenelg) picked up his seventh victory between the pipes, recording four saves in seven attempts, while first-year Zack Baker (Townsend, Del./Middletown) came up with three stops as the loss snaps Wesley's two-game win streak.

The Seahawks will return to action Wednesday, October 22nd when they travel to CAC rival, University of Mary Washington (6-6-2, 3-2-0 CAC) for a 4:00 p.m. kick-off.

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