Firebirds Earn Thrilling 2-1 Victory Over Molloy in Critical ECC Game

ARLINGTON, VA - Sophomore midfielder Hassirou Diakite one-timed a high, floating pass in the box by Felix Angerer and blasted a shot into the left corner of the net to break a 1-1 tie in the second half and send the Firebirds to a crucial, 2-1 East Coast Conference victory over Molloy on a rainy afternoon at Long Bridge Park. 

UDC (9-6-1, 5-4 ECC) moved into a tie for 4th place in the ECC standings with Molloy (5-10-1, 5-4 ECC) courtesy of this victory and would now own the tie-breaker should the two teams finish tied in the standings. In other ECC action, Dowling defeated Mercy 2-1 this afternoon to improve to 6-3 in league play to claim sole place of 3rd place in the conference standings.

UDC and Dowling will meet in both teams' regular season finale on Saturday, November 1st at 7:30 at Long Bridge Park. This game will carry heavy implications on seedings for the four-team ECC Championship Tournament.

Staring possible elimination in the face with a loss and a Dowling victory as both teams played their respective games simultaneously, the Firebirds played with a sense of urgency for all 90 minutes. Consequently, UDC struck first as sophomore midfielder Nenad Smiljanic (Health Education – Barnsley, England/Barnsley College) capitalized on a free kick from 20 yards out almost 33 minutes into the action. The goal was Smiljanic's 7^th of the season.

Molloy, looking to stay atop UDC and keep pace with Dowling in the standings, answered just three minutes later with a perfectly placed corner kick by Hamza Elotmani which sailed over the heads of everyone in a very crowded area right in front of the net and somehow bounced into the net untouched.

While both teams had a few more quality scoring chances, the very evenly-played first half ended in a 1-1 tie.

When play resumed for the second half, both teams immediately started peppering the opposition's goalkeeper with shots, desperately trying to break the 1-all tie. Then, following one of sophomore goalkeeper Ever Guevera Alvarez's (Electrical Engineering – Woodbridge, VA/Woodbridge Senior HS) eight second half saves (he had a career-high 12 for the game), UDC worked its way up the field thanks in part to two consecutive Molloy fouls. A long pass by freshman defender Max Coveney (Health Education – Worcester, England/Hereford Sixth Form) found the feet of Angerer, who lofted a pass into the middle of the field for Diakite. The sophomore midfielder, who previously had just one goal this season, timed the ball in the air perfectly, drilling it just before it hit the ground to beat Molloy's Justin Corke to the left corner of the net for the go-ahead goal in the 67^th minute.

Molloy frantically tried to score the equalizer in the remaining 23 minutes. The Lions fired six total shots in that span: four were saved, one was blocked and another sailed above the net.