McDaniel tied the Swarthmore Garnet in double overtime on Saturday as part of McDaniel’s homecoming celebration.
The Green Terror (13-0-1, 5-0-1) scored their lone goal in the 14th minute of the first half and kept the Garnet (12-0-1, 6-0-1) scoreless for almost the entirety of the game.
Swarthmore scored with two seconds left in the game, stunning the fans and players alike, and sending the game to overtime.
Both teams would go scoreless in the combined 20 minutes of double overtime to end the game in a tie between the only two undefeated teams in the Centennial Conference.
McDaniel’s Kristen Upton scored her sixth goal of the season, assisted by Abby Keen, her ninth.
Swarthmore’s goal was credited to Katherine Zavez with an assist from Sophie Basalone, although just about the entire team was in the goal box looking to score.
Both of the goals in the game came as a result of a stoppage of play, something that McDaniel head coach Sandy Lagana noted when talking about the positives of the game.
McDaniel goalie Sarah McDonald played the entirety of the game, stopping five of the six shots put on goal by the Garnet, while Swarthmore goalie Reba Magier saved four of the five shots by the Green Terror.
While no fouls were called other than a yellow card on Swarthmore in the first half, McDaniel edged out Swarthmore on corner kicks 7-3, yet the Garnet had the shot advantage 15-11. The Green Terror were awarded a corner kick with about ten seconds to go in the first half and were never able to get it off.
The teams were both undefeated heading in, and came out just the same. McDaniel and Swarthmore represent the Centennial Conference as two of the 11 Division III teams to hold that title. Each time on that list has at least one tie, and McDaniel was one of the last teams to add that statistic to their name.
Although ties can sometimes be disappointing, this was not the case in the game, as stressed by Lagana, saying that “[she] thought we played a pretty great game,” and that “it’s hard not to lose that game after you get scored on with two seconds left,” speaking to the team after the fact.
In reference to where they now stand in the national rankings and the Centennial Conference, Lagana also said that “[they] didn’t lose anything from this.”
As far as standings go, according to d3soccer.com, McDaniel moved up four spots to 20th in the nation, while Swarthmore moved from 10th to 9th.
The Green Terror will play again on the Oct. 21 at 7:00 p.m, at Gettysburg (7-2-4, 4-2). Their final home game is Oct. 24 at 3:30 p.m., hosting Haverford (9-3-1, 2-3-1).
