Fans were treated to an instant classic Wednesday afternoon, but it ended as an overtime heartbreaker. 

The Shippensburg University men’s soccer team took on their PSAC (Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference) rival, the East Stroudsburg University Warriors at home on Wednesday, and it was a fast game right from the get-go. 

The Raiders scored in the eighth minute through Patrick Luebben and held the lead for more than a half hour.

Isiah Dorsey found Luebben open in the box with a beautiful cross for Luebben’s fifth of the season. The Raiders held strong for 30 minutes before giving the ball away in their own box and goalie Matt Harder had no chance on the shot from the Warriors.

The Raiders took back control of the game with two goals in less than seven minutes, midway through the second half. Colin Marks found his third of the season after another great assist from Dorsey. 

Cole Kropnick followed with a goal directly off a free kick just outside the box. It was Kropnick’s eighth goal so far this season and his third from a free kick.

It all went downhill after that, however, as ESU proceeded to respond six minutes after Kropnick’s goal to make it 3–2 with just less than 20 minutes to play. 

SU held on until there was only 90 seconds left in the match when there was a large crowd of players all competing for the ball in SU’s box and it fell to ESU’s Keelby Espinola for the tying goal, forcing overtime.

The Raiders were again less than two minutes away from escaping the Warriors with a draw before committing a foul outside the box. It was their turn to convert a free kick, scoring the winning goal with just 80 seconds to go in the second half of overtime.

The loss dropped the Raiders to 1–2 in PSAC competition heading into their next match away with the Seton Hill University Griffins on Saturday.

The usual offensive firepower shown by Shippensburg was missing in the fourth game of the team’s string of PSAC matches. 

After scoring eight goals in its previous two games, the Raiders only found one against Seton Hill. The squad was outshot 6–18, with the Griffins scoring on four of those opportunities.

Jan Striewe scored the lone goal for the Raiders, making it four on the season for him. The goal came from a penalty kick with only three minutes left in the match. 

Harder made four saves in the game, but was unable to hold on forever. The Griffins scored three of their goals in a space of 10 minutes to grab control of the game.

The Raiders will continue their road to the PSAC Championships with a tough match away at Bloomsburg University tomorrow starting at 6:30 p.m.

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