– by Patrick Coonan of CCBC –
Trailing 2-0 with 9:15 left in regulation and down a man, the Knights scored three goals on Tuesday to defeat the visiting Frederick Cougars 3-2 in front of a home crowd at CCBC Essex.
The victory secured at least a tie for the Maryland Juco Conference title and the No. 1 seed in the upcoming NJCAA Region XX Divsion I Tournament, which begins on October 30 in the semifinals round for Essex. Kickoff is scheduled for 4 p.m. at host Harford Community College. The Knights are the seven-time defending Region XX Division I champions.
In the 20th minute, Vagner Marques-Rodriguez would break through to give the Cougars a 1-0 lead.
CCBC Essex (14-3, 10-1 Maryland Juco) began playing a man down in the 38th minute after sophomore Javier Avetrani received a red card.
The Knights had chances in the first half, but only managed to put two shots on goal and trailed 1-0 at halftime.
Essex came out strong in the second, but Marques-Rodriguez beat freshman keeper Jack Roby one-on-one in the 75th minute to give Frederick (11-3, 10-2 Maryland Juco) a 2-0 edge.
In the 81st minute, sophomore Wilfred Tinay played a ball into freshman Marvin Martinez who slipped it past the Frederick keeper to pull the Knights within one.
Essex would strike again less than three minutes later when freshman Rin Yasui (Seiwa Gakuen) scored off a great pass from freshman
Sam Adunah (Gar-Field Senior) to tie the game with six minutes left.
With overtime in sight, the Knights had other plans as Yasui got off a corner with 15 seconds on the clock.
Perry Hall grad Acolmi Rios found the loose ball and put it into the corner, tallying the game-winner for the Essex with 10 seconds remaining.
“It feels good to beat Frederick like that,” Rios said. “It shows that all the hardwork we’ve been putting in this season is coming together at the right time of the year.”
Roby finished the game with one save on three shots on goal. That stop came in the 69th minute.
Tinay played arguably the best game of his two-year career at Essex. Playing as a true middie, he was constantly breaking up the Cougars’ movements on defense and advancing the ball the the Knights’ attack.
