CHARLOTTE, N.C. --- Omer Okyar scored on a penalty kick midway through the first overtime period as Queens University of Charlotte overcame a two-goal deficit to defeat Tusculum 4-3 in South Atlantic Conference men's soccer action Wednesday night at Dickson Field.
The Royals (3-2-2, 1-1-1 SAC) trailed 1-0 after 2 1/2 minutes and 3-1 late in the first half, but tied the match with goals in the 45th and 52nd minutes by Edmundo Robinson.
With 4:10 left in overtime, a Royals player was fouled just inside the top of the box and a penalty was awarded. Okyar stepped up and beat Tusculum keeper Alejandro Quiriti to the opposite side for his second goal of the season and the victory.
Shawn Foster scored two first-half goals for the Pioneers (0-4-2, 0-2-1 SAC), who played their third overtime match of the season and suffered their fourth one-goal loss. Tusculum scored all three of its goals in the first 35 minutes after entering the day with two goals in 490 minutes of action spanning its first five matches.
Foster's first goal came off a feed from Clement Dagorn at 2:33 and gave the Pioneers a quick 1-0 lead. Foster had the second shot of the match in the 12th minute but was denied by Royals keeper Ben Wallace.
Queens evened the score at 1-1 at 17:40 as Keegan Burton fired home his second goal of the season from outside the 18. The Royals nearly took the lead a minute later but a shot by Robinson hit the crossbar.
Foster tallied his second goal of the game at 28:49 as he went in on a breakaway against Wallace and found the open net. Just over six minutes later, the Pioneers went ahead 3-1 on another breakaway goal from Oscar Rubio Jimenez, his second of the season, with 10:03 left in the first half.
The Pioneers looked poised to carry a two-goal lead into intermission, but a corner kick by the Royals' Liam Doyle was headed home by Robinson. The goal, Robinson's fourth of the season cut the Pioneers' lead to 3-2 with 54 seconds remaining in the half.
Just under 6 1/2 minutes into the second half, the Royals tied the game as Robinson dribbled up the right side of the box and beat Quiriti to the far corner for his fifth goal of the year and a 3-3 score.
Robinson made a bid for the hat trick with exactly 23 minutes left, but his shot attempt was stopped by Quiriti. A flurry in front of the Tusculum goal with just over eight minutes left saw Doyle put a rebound off the crossbar to keep the game even at 3-3 heading into overtime.
In the extra period, neither team had a dangerous scoring opportunity until the foul in the box which resulted in Okyar's successful penalty kick.
Queens finished the match with a 12-9 advantage in shots, and a 5-4 edge in corner kicks. The Royals were whistled for 14 fouls to 12 by the Pioneers in the contest, and had both yellow cards that were issued.
Quiriti and Wallace each finished with two saves in the match, which saw seven of the 11 shots on frame end up in the goal.
Tusculum will return home Saturday to face Anderson in a SAC match starting at 3:30 p.m. at Pioneer Field.
