WORCESTER, Mass. - Clark men's soccer (5-2-1, 0-0-1 NEWMAC) welcomed Keene State (0-4-1) to Granger Field on Tuesday night and came away with a thrilling 2-1 overtime win.

Graduate student Patrick Clark netted the game-winning goal in the 91st minute to propel the Cougars to the win off a pass from first-year Tyler Manley. Senior Byron Lind also scored in the match off a header from senior Alex Maiorano.

Coach O'Toole's Thoughts

"Being at home, we like to try to set the tone early and dictate the pace of the game, but unfortunately early we didn't come out of the gate able to do that today and going down a goal made us have to refocus and we were able to do that," said head coach Matt O'Toole. "We were able to push the game to overtime and were able to take control of the game. It's a good growing moment for our guys and a certain level of maturity came in to play for us and I'm happy the guys were able to put the win together."

"Byron always seems to be in the right place at the right time and put himself in places physically to not only be a good defender, but generate some attacks for us. Going into overtime we wanted to continue to increase the tempo of our play and take advantage of the fact that we wanted to play quickly and we were happy that a lot of things went well on that overtime goal."

Patrick Clark's Thoughts

"We had the momentum going into overtime and we were ready to end it after having multiple chances at the end of the game and on the goal, I made a looping run, Tyler put a nice ball on my foot, and I slotted it home," said Clark following the win. We are hoping to get our first NEWMAC win of the season and are excited to play Coast Guard on Saturday."

How it Happened

• Sophomore goalie Andrew DiStefano made three critical saves early in the match as he recorded saves on shots from Denis Fleming, Yusufu Juma, and Vance Bates within the first 16 minutes of play.
• Senior Brian Brennan fired the Cougars first shot on goal in the 34th minute that was stopped by Nate Howard.
• Keene State broke the tie in the 37th minute when Mbambi Mbungu found the back of the net on the right side of the pitch and Maiorano created a chance in the 43rd minute in the middle of the field that was saved as the Cougars trailed 1-0 at the half.
• Patrick Clark created a quality chance in the 48th minute that was stopped and Maiorano broke through the Owl defense in the 55th minute, but Howard registered another save.
• Both teams traded possession over the next 20 minutes before DiStefano recorded a save on Fleming's shot in the 79th minute.
• The Cougars earned a free kick from just outside the box the 80th minute that went just high and Maiorano fired a dribbler on goal that was saved in the 81st minute.
• Clark's offense finally broke through in the 82nd minute when Maiorano serviced in a cross that found the head of Lind and Lind beat the keeper to the right to tie the score at 1-1.
• The Cougars almost added to the lead in the 83rd minute when Patrick Clark fired a shot on goal from the left side of the box that was saved.
• Manley nearly ended the match in the 90th minute with a shot from the right side of the box that went just left of the goal as the teams remained tied at 1-1 through 90 minutes.
• The Cougars struck within the first minute of overtime when Manley crossed a ball to the left side of the pitch and Patrick Clark netted the game-winning goal with his left foot to propel Clark to a 2-1 overtime win.

Inside the Box Score

• The Cougars outshot Keene State 17 to 10, with eight shots going on goal.
• DiStefano recorded six saves in the match.
• Maiorano and Patrick Clark each fired three shots on goal.
• Clark created four corner kicks.

What's Next

Clark will return to the pitch on Saturday when they welcome Coast Guard to Granger Field for a NEWMAC contest beginning at 1:00 p.m.