Hat Trick, Game-Winning Goal From Morgan Langley Gives No. 7 Swarthmore Dramatic 4-3 Win Over Gettysburg
SWARTHMORE, Pa. - Junior Morgan Langley scored the game-winning goal in the 89th minute - his third of the game- on a bicycle kick in front of the net to give the No. 7 Swarthmore College men's soccer team (9-1, 3-1) a dramatic 4-3 victory over Gettysburg College on Saturday night from Clothier Field Stadium.
Thanks to a perfectly-placed corner kick from sophomore Roberto Contreras IV and the header assist from brother Dylan Langley, Morgan was able get enough separation from the defense in the front of the box to convert the fantastic bicycle goal to win the game for the Garnet and send the Clothier Field crowd into a frenzy.
Langley won the game for the Garnet with his goal in the 89th minute.
In a wild game that saw the Garnet build a 3-0 lead - only to have Gettysburg rally to tie the game late - Langley stood out as the star with his first career hat trick. Sporting a freshly cut mohawk, Langley showed the visiting Bullets why he is one of the Centennial Conference's premier goal scorers, netting two quick goals in the 2nd and 16th minute to give Swat the early advantage, and the crucial game-winner when it looked as if the game was slipping away from the Garnet.
Based on the start of the game, it didn't look like a dramatic finish was even a possibility, as the Garnet jumped out to a 3-0 in the first 20 minutes of play. Once again, the catalyst to the quick start was Langley. In the third minute, Langley took a midfield pass from Contreras, blew by a defender on left wing and converted from inside the box, giving the Garnet the early 1-0 lead. Then in the 16th minute, Langley struck again, this time on a blast from 25-yards out, giving Swat a 2-0 lead.
It was even more from the Swat offense five minutes later, as sophomore Micah Rose scored on an upper-90 goal to give the Garnet a commanding 3-0 lead.
But while it may have appeared as if the Garnet would run away with the game after Rose's goal, the Bullets responded in a big way - scoring two goals in the final 10 minutes of the first half to put the Garnet back on its heels. Gettysburg's Eric Hynes got the scoring started in the 36th minute to cut the lead to 3-1, and in the 44th minute, Dan McNamara came away with the ball on a broken play in the front of the net and sneaked the ball past goalkeeper David D'Annunzio to make it a 3-2 game heading into the half. The two goals scored by Gettysburg right before the half equaled the number of goals the Garnet had surrendered for the entire season up to that point.
Rose scored the Garnet's third goal of the game.
With all the momentum now in Gettysburg's favor, the Bullets put the pressure on the Garnet defense for much of the second half. The Bullets finally broke through when Chris Brown scored on a header - started by a great side throw-in from Ryan Shaffer - to tie the game 3-3 in the 70th minute. However, the tie would only last until Langley got his final goal in the final minutes.
In goal for the Garnet, D'Annunzio made one save to pick up the win.
Swarthmore held an advantage in shots on goal (9-4) and corner (9-2).
The Garnet return to action on Wednesday with a non-conference match with No. 24 Richard Stockton. Action is slated to begin at 7:00 p.m.