NEW YORK — Will DeNight drew a 75th-minute penalty and converted from the spot to deliver the Columbia men's soccer team no less than what it fully deserved, drawing Lehigh, 1-1, Friday night at Rocco B. Commisso Soccer Stadium.
With the Lions pressing for an equalizer in their season opener, DeNight gained possession near the corner flag and drove the ball past a Lehigh defender into the area. As he approached the six-yard box, the senior from Miami, Florida was taken down from behind by Beckett Wenger and official David Breckner pointed to the spot. DeNight was true from 12 yards, beating the keeper into the bottom-right corner to bring Columbia back level.
"I thought it was a good performance by the guys for the first time out," said head coach Michael Casper, who made his Lions debut Friday night. "They kept on fighting until the end and it's been what this group has been about all preseason – that incredible work rate and desire to put in a real effort and a really positive attitude."
Lehigh (0-1-2) took the lead just over nine minutes into the second half on a penalty of their own. The Mountain Hawks sent a low-driving ball skipping into the box that senior
Matthew Leong slid to block. Unfortunately, the ball skipped off the arm of Leong, leaving the official no choice but to grant Lehigh the penalty. Perry Kingson delivered to open the scoring.
The Lions were left wanting more from a first half that saw them dominate the opening 20 minutes. They created chance after chance with the visitors on their heels but could never find the target. Despite outshooting Lehigh 7-2 in the half, none of Columbia's attempts were on goal. Meanwhile, Lehigh got into the game half an hour in and forced two critical saves by senior
Michael Collodi. The keeper's first denied a sure goal dipping in under the crossbar off a free kick. His second was reactionary off a header from in close that was punched off the post.
"Even though I thought we were quite good at times in the first half with a number of good chances created, I was disappointed we didn't score," Casper added. "You go into halftime and 10 minutes in you give up that penalty kick. I was wondering how the guys were going to respond but they dug in, they kept on going and they never stopped. I thought they got a deserved penalty to give us a chance to tie it up."
Columbia was inspired by DeNight's penalty and nearly won the match in the final moments. A dangerous ball sent through the area to the far post found
Alessandro Franciosa inside the six. The final contact wasn't there on his one-timed effort, sending the ball floating into the air for an easy catch.
"We were by no means perfect today, but the spirit and competitiveness … is going to be a really important trait of this group. I'm really proud of the boys for the way they kept on going and brought the game back," Casper concluded.
Columbia will play home to Manhattan on Tuesday night at 7 p.m. ET.
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