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Grizzlies end first season with OT loss
Westminster College of Utah took 44 shots but needed late heroics to claim a 2-1 overtime win over Adams State, which played its final match of an abbreviated inaugural season, on Sunday afternoon at Murphy Field in Alamosa.
The Griffins, 9-6-1, scored the tying goal with just five minutes left on a Jeff Gardner header before Tysen Gehring gave the Griffins the win with a pretty goal with just 3 minutes, 17 seconds left in the second overtime.
The Grizzlies, who finished the year 0-10-3, had taken the lead in the 61st minute on a Jesse Dunbar goal from the penalty spot. Jesse Blais was called for a hand-ball just inside the penalty area on the right flank, and Dunbar, who finished the season with three goals, converted.
The Grizzlies found themselves up 1-0 with just over 29 minutes left, but Adams State went a man down seven minutes laters. Mounting tensions boiled over as sophomore Peter Freeman was sent off for pushing down a Griffins player. Ten yellow cards were handed out in the match, five on each team, for physical fouls and dissent.
The ugliness took away from what was an entertaining match that featured fast play, counterattacks and spectacular saves from Grizzlies freshman goalkeeper Jarod Thomas, who made a school-record 15 saves while doing his best to help the Grizzlies end the season on a high note. One of those saves came in the first half on a penalty kick; he stopped Isaac Green cold. Thomas stopped three of the five penalty kicks that he has faced in 2009.
The Grizzlies, who were outshot 16-3 in the first half, nearly took advantage less than five minutes later when Bryan Heath dribbled around a Griffins defender and into the box before a charging Val Campbell stopped his shot. Freeman then shot a rebound attempt from the top of the box wide right.
Thomas would again play the role of the hero in the 83rd minute, when a Caleb Johnson foul and ensuing yellow card allowed Green the opportunity at a free kick just outside the box and just left of center. Green, who took 10 total shots and a majority of the Griffins’ 18 total corner kicks, bent his shot around a Grizzly wall and to the right side of the net, but Thomas made the diving save.
Thomas would not be able to do the same at the 85-minute mark, when Gardner headed in Justin Solomon’s cross. His header hit the bottom of the crossbar and bounced to the ground just past the goal line.
The Grizzlies had a great chance midway through the first overtime as Joseph Jallow received a through-ball and dribbled around a Griffin defender to the right side of the box before trying to cut the ball back. The ball trickled over to Heath, who had back-to-back shots blocked by the Griffins in the box.
The Griffins controlled the tempo of the second overtime before Heath was called for a foul in the deep right corner of the field in the 107th minute. Green took the ensuing free kick and sent a cross over to Gehring, who neatly volleyed the ball into the right side of the goal, giving the Griffins the win.
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