GREENSBORO -- Theo Collomb headed in a golden goal off a superb pass from
Daniel Mangarov with 1:11 left in the first overtime period, lifting host UNCG to a 3-2 comeback victory over Belmont in a crucial Southern Conference match Saturday night at UNCG Soccer Stadium.
Mangarov, a freshman midfielder from Georgia, slipped past a Belmont defender in the 99th minute and chipped a crossing pass to Collomb at the far post. The freshman from France deflected the ball off his head and into the net for his fifth goal of the season.
"I saw Daniel going off to the side," Collomb said, "and I know he has a really good left foot, and he likes to give the ball to the far post. I saw (a defender) going to the near post, so I decided to take space at the far post so I would be able to attack. The ball arrived perfectly, and I just had to push it in the back of the net to celebrate."
Collomb charged toward the sidelines and slid on his knees into a mob of his teammates.
"It was a release after so much frustration," Collomb said. "I missed chances that I don't like to miss, and I was starting to get frustrated with my performance, even though I caused the penalty at the very end (of regulation) to put me back in my game. It was a great relief and a great joy to convert the work of the whole team into a great victory."
The Spartans (6-2-1 overall, 2-1-1 SoCon) pull into a second-place tie with Belmont (5-1-2, 2-1-1 SoCon) and ETSU (2-4-2, 2-1-1) in the conference standings. Mercer (4-8-1, 2-2-1) also has seven points.
It was an unlikely three points for UNCG. The Spartans forced overtime when
Mani Austmann, a sophomore forward from Iceland, scored his fifth goal of the season on a penalty kick in the 90th minute.
"That was beyond wild," UNCG coach
Chris Rich said. "We played well, but Belmont's up 2-1. And then we get the penalty with two seconds to go. Mani scores on the penalty kick, and we win it in overtime. It's one of the craziest games I've ever been a part of, for sure."
Belmont goalkeeper Drew Romig made a save on Mangarov's shot with 35 seconds left in regulation. Collomb then drew a penalty against Romig on a goal kick, setting up Austmann's equalizer with two ticks on the stopped clock.
"When you're down a goal and it's getting late in the game, you're certainly going to take a lot of risks," Rich said. "You have to put a lot of numbers forward, and we were certainly doing that. We were getting chances to go ahead, but we just didn't do it. And after they scored to make it 2-1, we still had some chances to equalize, but unfortunately we didn't. So then we just had to throw everything at them trying to find a way. ... We were really, really fortunate to get the penalty there. It's a bit of luck, but we'll take it."
Austmann made a hesitation move as he approached his penalty kick, getting Romig to commit to the keeper's left. Austmann knocked the shot into the vacated spot to Romig's right.
"Once we were in that moment, getting to overtime, I told the guys just how proud I was of them to get us there," Rich said. "Because Belmont was fantastic. They made life very difficult for us. But once you get to overtime, it's kind of like a brand-new game. I congratulated our players on their resilience, but in that moment I asked them to all take two deep breaths, calm down. Because when we're calm, we play our best football."
UNCG took a 1-0 halftime lead.
Izaiah Vignali scored in the 29th minute, his first goal of the season, off assists from
Nelson Oceano and
Ethan Conley.
It was Senior Night for the Spartans, who honored Oceano and
Manny Apau.
Belmont, which came into the match unbeaten, tied the match on Kyle Barks' goal in the 53rd minute. The Bruins took the lead on Jack Shaw's penalty kick in the 75th minute. That set up the frenzied finish that saw UNCG outshoot Belmont 19-7, including 13-4 in the second half and overtime.
The Spartans don't have long to savor the victory. UNCG plays Wofford (0-6 overall, 0-3 SoCon) at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Snyder Field in Spartanburg, S.C.
"The celebration is short and sweet," Rich said. "You enjoy the moment right now, but not too long. The recovery starts tonight. Get a good night's rest, then a recovery day tomorrow before our one training session prior to traveling to Wofford to play Tuesday. It's a short turnaround, but we have a deep roster. Sometimes these Saturday-Tuesday games mean you have to rotate more on the Tuesday because guys are tired. But we'll be ready."
