BROOKLYN, N.Y. — Emil Jaaskelainen and the LIU men's soccer team aimed for revenge when it mattered most. They nearly pulled it off.
Assigned the sixth seed in the NEC Tournament after falling to St. Francis Brooklyn in the regular-season finale, the Sharks got a goal from Jaaskelainen in the 80th minute to pull even at 1 in a quarterfinal rematch between the teams three days later.
However, third-seeded St. Francis Brooklyn ultimately eliminated the Sharks in penalty kicks, 5-4, on Sunday afternoon when Terriers goalie Alec MacLachlan guessed correctly and stopped
Robert Winkler's shot that had been ticketed for the lower left corner in the sixth round.
LIU, the defending NEC champion, which had won an opening-round NCAA tourney match at Maryland a year ago, this time completed its season with a 9-6-2 overall record.
The Sharks enjoyed a seven-match winning streak and eight-match unbeaten streak during the heart of the season. They then closed the regular season with four straight 1-0 losses.
However, head coach
Michael Mordocco thought the Sharks had played exceedingly well in Thursday's regular-season finale despite his team's fourth straight shutout loss — leading to optimism about the NEC quarterfinal rematch between the teams.
In the 80th minute on Sunday, LIU found the back of the net to break its prolonged drought and even the score at 1. Goalkeeper
Gianluca Cersosimo booted the ball three-quarters of the length of the field. It soon thereafter found its way to Jaaskelainen on a centering pass from
Michael-Andre Odusami.
Jaaskelainen buried the equalizer with his right foot for his 12th goal of the season.
After a pair of scoreless 10-minute overtime periods, the match went to a shootout, with the Lower Manhattan skyline serving as the backdrop at Brooklyn Bridge Park.
Each team missed its second shot, with
Matthias Heiland,
Alan Martinez,
Michael Mollica and Jaaskelainen converting for the Sharks through five rounds.
Then, after St. Francis Brooklyn took the 5-4 lead, the Sharks' season ended with a save from the Terriers' MacLachlan.