NEWBERRY – The Wolves won their season opener in thrilling fashion as they edged the West Liberty Hilltoppers on
Fabrizio Bucco's 95th minute golden goal, Friday night at the Smith Road Complex.
The Wolves (1-0) had trailed by deficits of 2-0 and 3-2 but battled back each time to force an overtime period. Just five minutes into the extra session, Bucco found himself with the ball and one defender to beat. Bucco dribbled past the defender and then finessed around the West Liberty (0-1) goalkeeper to easily score the golden goal and give the win for the Wolves.
"We put ourselves in a bit of a hole after giving up an early goal and then another before half," head coach
Bryce Cooper stated. "We showed much better energy and played with more urgency to get ourselves back level in the second half.
"When we went down a goal and then had a player sent off, most teams would have folded, but we showed great commitment and belief to not only force overtime but win it in overtime while being down a player. While our performance can certainly improve on the defensive side of the ball, we showed a lot of resiliency and heart today and will hopefully use it on Sunday."
Newberry had a rough start as they fell behind in the fourth minute as West Liberty opened the scoring with a header off a corner kick. The Hilltoppers struck again in the 22nd minute after a ball bounced off the Newberry post and into the path of an incoming striker who drove the ball home.
Freshman forward
Ibrahim Nadir scored in the 70th minute when a West Liberty defender headed the ball into Nadir's feet and he easily pummeled the ball past the keeper. Moments later, a shot from
Pedro Gabriel bounced off the keeper and ricocheted in the direction of
Andrew Gallagher. Gallagher drove the ball past the keeper to tie the score at 2-2 in the 73rd minute.
The Hilltoppers struck again in the 77th minute and a red card for the Wolves put Newberry down a goal and man on the field. With under seven minutes remaining, Nadir scored his second goal of the night when a throw into the middle of the box found Nadir with the ball and his back turned to the goal. A quick turnaround and shot by Nadir went past the keeper to put the Wolves overtime.
The season opener was a game of firsts for both teams. West Liberty fielded a team in their first game in the inaugural season for the Hilltoppers competing at the Division II level. Nadir and Gallagher both scored their first career goals for Newberry.
Newberry will travel to Mount Olive for a nonconference game against the Trojans at 5:00 p.m. on Sunday. The Wolves return to the home next week with a September 4th matchup against USC Aiken at 4:00 p.m.
