OMAHA, Neb. - Freshman Rob Smith scored (Lincoln, England) in the 102nd minute to lead the Bellevue University men's soccer team to a double-overtime victory over Westminster College on at Tranquility Park on Sunday afternoon. With the 2-1 victory, Bellevue improves to 5-1-1 on the season while the loss drops Westminster to 7-4-1.
A failed clear by a Griffin defender saw the ball fall to the feet of senior Manuel Lira (Guadalajara, Mexico) who found himself alone on the far side of the 18-yard box. Lira took a couple of dribbles and delivered a well-placed cross to the feet of Smith just inside the box. Smith then struck a beautiful floating shot past the outstretched arms of a diving Taylor Ruff to cap BU's come-from-behind victory.
In the 66th minute Colin Hintze took a pass from Jace Schaecher and Hintze found himself alone in the box with the keeper coming out to meet him. After taking an extra touch he beat sophomore Ben Martin between the legs for the game's first goal.
BU finally broke through in the 74th minute after mounting continued pressure and dominating possession throughout. Junior Alan Carr (Lincolnshire, England) played a ball to freshman Rob Smith (Lincoln, England) in the middle who used a touch to set up a flick pass to junior Tobias Maertzke (Hamburg, Germany) whose one-timer, from inside the 6-yard box was too much to handle.
The Bruins held a commanding 16-4 advantage in shots but were unable to solve Taylor Ruff until late in the second half. Westminster used a 4-2 edge in corner kicks for the match to make up for a lack of possession and shots. Sophomore Ben Martin (Lincolnshire, England) needed to make just two saves in the match to improve his record to 2-0-0.
Bellevue will return to action on Thursday, Sept. 18 when they travel to West Palm Beach, Fla. to take on Northwood University at noon.
