Lenhart’s Overtime Winner Pushes Brevard Past Pfeiffer, Gives Tornados Third-Straight Victory

Senior defender Eric Lenhart gave the Brevard College Tornados men's soccer team its third-straight victory with a 100th-minute golden goal header (Courtesy of Thom Kennedy '21).
Senior defender Eric Lenhart gave the Brevard College Tornados men's soccer team its third-straight victory with a 100th-minute golden goal header (Courtesy of Thom Kennedy '21).

BREVARD, N.C. – In the final seconds of the first overtime period, senior defender Eric Lenhart's header off a corner kick from freshman midfielder Joao Monteiro found the back of the net to clinch the Brevard College Tornados men's soccer team's (3-4-2, 3-1-2 USAS) third-consecutive USA South Conference victory, as the host Tornados upended the visiting Pfeiffer University Falcons (5-7, 3-5 USAS), 2-1 at Ives-Lemel Family Field on Tuesday evening. Brevard's win halted a four-match win streak for the visiting Pfeiffer Falcons.

Lenhart (1 goal) and Monteiro (1 assist) were joined on the score sheet by BC's Matheus Masukawa, who drove home his team-leading fourth goal of 2019 on a penalty kick in the 53rd minute of play. Senior goalkeeper Patrick Hall (3-4-2) earned his third-straight victory in goal for the Tornados, stopping two shots on the evening.

Masukawa let a game-high six shots fire, four of which found the frame. Freshman Lucas Campos recorded four shots, while Lenhart and Vinicius Giannaccini each shot the ball twice.

"These are the hardest games – the game after a big win," commented Head Coach Helio "L" D'Anna following BC's victory. "These guys countered us really well – they had all of our plays and patterns down, so we had to earn it. Sometimes it's not pretty, sometimes it takes heart – and our guys all season have shown that they have the heart."  

Lenhart's game-winner came within the last minute of the first overtime period in a match that was deadlocked at 0-0 through the first half of play. Following a Tornado free-kick, Masukawa drew a hard foul in the box to earn Brevard's first penalty kick attempt of 2019. The senior midfielder from Sao Paulo, Brazil was calm and collected as he fooled the Falcon goalkeeper, driving the ball with pace to the right side to give the Tornados a 1-0 advantage in the 53rd minute of action.

BC held strong through the next 15 minutes before the Falcons pushed their first goal across, as Jonathan Quintero rebounded a Hall save and placed a shot through the left side to equalize the contest at 1-1.

From that point, the Falcons applied pressure searching for the go-ahead goal, as they outshot the Tornados, 5-1. However, in the final minute of regulation Falcon goal-scorer Quintero – who had received his first yellow card of the match at the 35:05 mark, was flashed his second of the match after the hard foul, giving Brevard a man-up situation for the upcoming overtime periods.

Both sides attempted to establish their footing through the first few minutes of overtime. BC's first crack at goal came in the 98th minute when JP Suarti shot wide, which marked the first shot for either side in overtime.

With just under a minute left, the Tornados won themselves a critical corner kick that Monteiro lined up to take. The freshman sent the ball into the near post, and Lenhart's fateful header gave Brevard another thrilling result in overtime.

The Tornados illustrated their possession advantage in Tuesday's contest by outshooting the visiting Falcons, 18-12, including a 9-3 shots-on-goal tilt. BC won a total of nine corner kicks on the evening compared to Pfeiffer's two.

Next up for the Tornados is their final USA South road trip of the 2019 season prior to closing out conference play with five-straight home matches. Brevard first heads to Greensboro, N.C. to face the Greensboro College Pride (7-5-1, 5-2 USAS) on Saturday, October 12 at 4 p.m. before squaring off with William Peace University on Sunday, October 13 at 2 p.m. in Cary, N.C.

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