Firebirds Come From Behind to Force 2-2 Tie vs. No. 15 LIU Post on Senior Day

WASHINGTON, DC – The University of the District of Columbia men's soccer team fought back from a 2-0 deficit to force a 2-2 tie against the No. 15 nationally ranked LIU Post Pioneers in East Coast Conference action Wednesday afternoon in the nation's capital.

The Firebirds (7-5-3), playing in their final home game of the season, honored four seniors before the game: captain Roque Hernandez (Environmental Science – Germantown, MD/Northwest HS), Carlos Reyes (Computer Science – Washington, DC/Woodrow Wilson), Jose Garcia (Spanish – Sterling, VA/Park View HS) and Bakary Coulibaly (Electrical Engineering – Bamako, Mali/La Lumiere HS).

Playing in his final game at UDC Athletic Field, Coulibaly scored the game-tying goal with a little under 12 minutes remaining in regulation. This was Coulibaly's team-leading ninth goal of the season and forced the Firebirds' third consecutive tie.

LIU Post (14-1-2), who dropped in the NSCAA rankings from No. 1 to No. 15 after a loss and a tie last week is now winless (0-1-2) in its last three games after starting the season 14-0. Johann Kristjansson, tied for No. 3 in the ECC with Coulibaly, headed in his 9^th goal of the season for the game's first goal for the Pioneers near the 13-minute mark. Only a few minutes later, Jonathon Watkin made it 2-0 when he finished a through pass from Eivind Austboe.

Freshman Nenad Smiljanic (Business Administration – Barnsley, England/Barnsley College) was the first to put UDC on the board when he finished a cross on an empty net by classmate Felix Angerer (Business Administration – Bayreuth, Germany/Graj Minster Gymnasium Bayreuth) a little over five minutes before halftime.

The Firebirds fed off the momentum from the end of the first half as they went on the attack in the second period – out-shooting the Pioneers, 7-4. In the 79^th minute, LIU Post's Marc Jorgensen (3 saves, 2 goals allowed) made a fantastic diving save to stop freshman Sam Rowden's (Psychology – Lincoln, England/Saint Peter Saint Paul Catholic Secondary School) shot, but off the deflection, the ball rolled right to UDC's leading goal-scorer, Coulibaly, who easily scored from inside the box on an empty net to knot the score at 2-2.

UDC had two quality chances to score although the Pioneers held a 5-2 shot advantage in the two overtime sessions. Smiljanic nearly scored his second goal when he rocked a shot from about 15 yards out, but Jorgensen was up to the task and made the save. The next opportunity came in the second overtime session on sophomore Elio Hernandez's (Health Education – Germantown, MD/Northwest HS) corner kick. Hernandez's kick sailed all the way across the box to the feet of freshman defender Zack Eadle (Business Management – Oxford, England/The Oratory), who had his back to the goal as he controlled the ball. Eadle quickly turned and fired at the goal but his shot went well right of the net.

The Firebirds will play their final game of the season on Saturday at Bridgeport. Game time is at 3 p.m.