Oct. 19, 2007

Box Score

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Senior Lukasz Tumicz (Bisztynek, Poland) scored his league-leading eighth goal of the season as the Rhode Island men's soccer team played to a 1-1 tie at Charlotte on Friday night, Oct. 19. With the draw, the Rams remain unbeaten over their last five matches, going 3-0-2 since Sept. 30.

Tumicz put Rhody on the board in the 36th minute when he took a cross from junior Kevin Hamill (Easton, Conn.), turned around and booted the ball past Charlotte's David Martin and into the top right corner goal for the 1-0 lead.

"Kevin played real well tonight," said head coach John O'Connor. "He set Lukasz up with a great cross. Lukasz took it to his chest, spun around, fired off a quick shot and scored. It was a really nice goal."

With no scoring through the remainder of the half, the 49ers came back from the break and tied things up less than five minutes into the second frame when Luke Exley collected the rebound off of a blocked shot by Adam Gross and found the back of the net to even the score at one apiece.

With the score still knotted at 1-1 through 90 minutes of regulation, the Rams and Niners headed to overtime. Charlotte outshot URI in the first ten minutes but was unable to get the ball past sophomore goalkeeper Chris Pennock (Middlesborough, England), forcing double OT.

Senior Steve Mellen (North Kingstown, R.I.) had Rhody's best chance at netting the golden goal but his shot in the 102nd minute was stopped by Martin.

The Rams caught a break in the game's final seconds when a shot by Charlotte's Will Shull deflected off the crossbar with two ticks left on the clock.

"We had a great first half, probably the best first half we've had all season," added O'Connor. "So while a win - and three points in the conference standings - was what we were looking for, we're still happy to get a point [for the tie] on the road."

In all, Charlotte outshot Rhode Island, 16-11, while the Rams had a 3-2 advantage in corner kicks.

Pennock made four saves in net for Rhody while Martin turned away eight shots for the 49ers.

The Rams (4-6-2, 2-0-1 Atlantic 10) return to action on Sunday afternoon when they travel to St. Louis for a 2:00 p.m. (ET) meeting with the #12/11 Billikens (6-2-3, 2-0-1 Atlantic 10).