It was déjà vu all over again Friday night as junior Sebastian Elney scored the game-winning goal in the 98th minute to lift No. 6 Maryland past No. 15 UCLA, 3-2, in overtime at Ludwig Field.
Elney, who also posted the game-winner against UCLA in dramatic fashion in 2015, snagged a terrific pass from senior Jake Rozhansky and slipped it through traffic to the far corner for the win. Maryland (3-0) has already scored nine goals this season.
Gordon Wild kicked off the scoring for Maryland, nailing a penalty kick after a UCLA handball in the box in the 56th minute. But UCLA answered as Brandon Terwege hit a ball off the crossbar and Erik Holt connected on the follow-up for a tie game at 67:35.
Eryk Williamson took advantage of a failed Bruin clear and found freshman Eric Matzelevich who scored from 15 yards to regain the lead in the 73rd minute. UCLA once again found the equalizer in the 80t
h minute when Brian Iloski scored his third goal of the season with a pretty free kick from just outside the box.
Elney provided the fireworks once again with less than two minutes to play with his game-winner and subsequent leap into the stands.
Friday’s crowd of 7,532 was the fourth-largest in Ludwig Field history.
“I’ve said that this is one of the special nights in college soccer and once again that proved to be true. This was a really hard-nosed, highly competitive college soccer game,” head coach Sasho Cirovski said. “I give UCLA a lot of credit. They came in here and they pressed us, pushed the game and found a way to come back into it. But I’m also extremely proud of our team for once again finding the quality and character to come out on top. Again it was a goal worthy of a winner. It was an incredible pass from Jake Roshansky and a sublime first touch by Sebastian Elney who once again scored against UCLA. We’ve seen that celebration before and it was very special. It’s gratifying to find a way to win when you feel that you weren’t at your best.”
Maryland plays host to Cal Poly on Monday at 7 p.m. at Ludwig.
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