Box Score

Junior Jonathan DeNicola tapped in a golden goal in the 94th minute of play on Wednesday afternoon as the Shippensburg University men's soccer team earned a sudden-death victory over ECC-playoff bound NYIT for the second straight season, edging the Bears 2-1 from President's Stadium in Old Westbury, N.Y.

Shippensburg (5-8-2) was able to rally for the victory despite having to play one man down beginning in the 15th minute of play as a result of a red card for a dangerous tackle. DeNicola's game-winning strike was the first shot of the overtime session and was a finish of a free kick sent in by junior Oli Templeton.

NYIT (8-6-2) opened the scoring in the second half, as substitute forward Marvin Eveillard maneuvered through two SU defenders to sneak a low shot into the right corner of the net past Raider sophomore goalkeeper Kevin Hollasch that put the Bears up 1-0 in the 65th minute.

Hollasch, who entered the game at the beginning of the second half in place of senior starter Andrew Foran, ended up with the victory and made four saves in his 49 minutes of work.

The Raiders were able to force overtime thanks to the work of junior reserve forward Logan Kuhn, who came off the bench in the second half to net his first collegiate goal. The play materialized off a throw-in, as senior Joe Nixon gathered the ball and sent a deft feed to Kuhn, who struck the equalizer.

DeNicola's goal is his fifth this season and his first career game winner. He entered the 2012 season having scored three goals in 32 career matches. Templeton became the team leader in assists with his fourth, while Nixon achieved his third assist of the season to tie for second in the category with senior Sam Talbot.

Last year at David See Field, graduate Simon Neubauer got credit for the game winner against NYIT by subtly re-directing a shot past goalkeeper Liam Waddy for the victory. Waddy also took the loss in Wednesday's game despite making four saves for the Bears.

Shippensburg concludes its regular season Saturday at 3 p.m. when it takes on California (Pa.) from David See Field. Before the match, SU will honor its nine senior players: Foran, Austin Hill, Taylor Hudson, Neubauer, Nixon, Clay Sale, Alex Supplee, Talbot and Ben Weihbrecht. The Raiders will also recognize assistant coach Cody Ditzel, who is set to graduate in December.