Firebirds Suffer 2-1 Overtime Heartbreaker to Dowling in Season Finale; Denied ECC Tournament Berth

ARLINGTON, VA – Needing a tie or a victory in their season finale at home to secure a place in the program's first East Coast Conference Championship Tournament, the Firebirds surrendered a game-winning goal to Dowling in the 3^rd minute of overtime to lose, 2-1 on a frigid and windy Saturday night at Long Bridge Park.

With the loss, the Firebirds (5-5 ECC, 9-7-1 overall) are eliminated from ECC Tournament contention, as Dowling improved to 7-3 in league play (10-5-2 overall) and locked up the No. 3 seed. In other ECC action earlier this afternoon, Molloy tied Bridgeport, 1-1, edging out UDC for the No. 4 seed with a record of 5-4-1 despite going win-less in its final four games.

Dowling more than doubled-up UDC in shots (27-13) and had a distinct advantage in corner kicks (12-2). The Golden Lions struck first with a penalty kick goal by Jose Herrera in the 38^th minute. Having out-shot UDC 13-7, Dowling took a 1-0 lead into halftime.

Nearly eight minutes into the second half, sophomore midfielder Nenad Smiljanic (Health Education – Barnsley, England/Barnsley College) finished off a rebound from a shot by Felix Angerer (Business Administration – Bayreuth, Germany/Graj Minster Gymnasium Bayreuth) to even the score at 1-apiece. Again, Dowling had a decisive edge in shots (12-6) in the second half, putting three on goal, but sophomore goalkeeper Ever Guevera Alvarez (Electrical Engineering – Woodbridge, VA/Woodbridge Senior HS) stopped all three to force overtime.

Just 2:24 into the overtime session, Kevin Diaz followed a saved Philip Svensson shot and fired it into the back of the net for the game-winner.

Alvarez (2-1) suffered his first loss of the season as UDC goalkeeper despite being in double-figures in saves (10) for a second consecutive game. Dowling's Chris Friedl made four saves and allowed just one goal in the win.

With this loss, the season comes to an end, but not before the Firebirds attained the program's highest number of wins in a season (nine) since 2004. Also, junior goalkeeper Louis Connor (Health Education – Birmingham, England/Arthur Terry School) set the 3^rd-highest mark in program history for saves in a season with 73 despite missing the final three games.