Box Score (HTML)

BLOOMSBURG – Anthony Cerda (Budd Lake, NJ/Mount Olive) found the net in the third minute and Wheeling Jesuit tallied a tying penalty kick goal in the 68th as the Bloomsburg University men's soccer team battled to a 1-1 double overtime draw with the visiting Cardinals on Saturday afternoon at Steph Pettit Stadium.
 
Bloomsburg (5-2-2, 3-1-0 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference) dominated the first half.
 
Spencer Conrad (Enola/East Pennsboro) mounted a scoring challenge just 70 seconds into the game, rushing into the box on a one-on-one before firing wide.
 
Just over a minute later Cerda would have better luck. The freshman attacker dribbled past multiple Cardinals defenders onto the near right wing and then shot past the Wheeling Jesuit keeper to the lower left of the net for the 1-0 lead before the game was three minutes old.
 
The ball barely crossed into the Huskies' defensive zone during the opening 45 minutes as the hosts outshot Wheeling Jesuit 8-4. The Cardinals put together their first solid chance in the final minute of the half as Aitor Iniguez De Heredia shot right on with the save made by Huskies keeper Jacob Pesarcik (Whitehall/Whitehall), but received another chance on his own rebound before driving a shot off the post as the Huskies took a 1-0 lead into intermission.
 
Bloomsburg threatened for insurance out of the break with Cerda again breaking through the box with a header attempt that was saved by Cardinals keeper Mathew McCormick.
 
The Huskies were challenging again when a shot by Brett Milden (Mullica Hill, NJ/Clearview Regional) was blocked and allowed the Cardinals to clear. A foul by the Huskies in the box on the other end set up De Heredia with a penalty kick attempt. The sophomore from Spain then tied the game by squeaking a shot to the right of a diving Pesarcik.
 
Pesarcik kept the score tied by turning away a shot from 10 yards out by Vincent Faraji in the 80th minute and made another save on Faraji six minutes later.
 
The Huskies nearly found the goal they needed before the end of regulation, putting the pressure on in the final minutes of the second period.  Bloomsburg spent much of the final two minutes on the attack with a pair of header shots by Cerda and Brian Kilcoyne (Bensalem/Bensalem) denied by McCormick before the buzzer.
 
Wheeling Jesuit (4-5-1, 2-4-0 Mountain East Conference) controlled much of the first overtime period with its best opportunity coming in the 98th minute when De Heredia hit the post.
 
During the second overtime, the Huskies had the only shot – an attempt by Samuel Izzo (Frankford, DE/Indian River) that was saved by McCormick.
 
Pesarcik, making his first career start, tallied seven saves in net for the Huskies. McCormick had six saves for Wheeling Jesuit.
 
In all, Bloomsburg finished with a 15-14 edge in total shots while the teams were even with three corner kicks apiece.
 
The Huskies return to PSAC action on Wednesday, hosting Gannon at 2 p.m. inside Steph Pettit Stadium.