WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senior
Diba Nwegbo's first career brace helped William & Mary men's soccer twice rally from a goal deficit in forging a 2-2 draw in the season opener at George Washington on Thursday afternoon.
Trailing 1-0 at hafltime, the Tribe pulled even off a corner kick in the 63rd minute. Senior
Alexander Levengood served the ball into the area. It caught a number of deflects before Nwegbo hammered it home from 12 yards out for the Green and Gold's first marker of the year.
W&M continued to pressure after the goal, but it was the Colonials who struck to take the lead for a second time in the 71st minute. Tom Cooklin bent in a shot from the top left side of the 18-yard box to the far post to put the home team back in front, 2-1.
The combination of freshman
Lucas Caldas and Nwegbo brought the Tribe back to even in the 84th minute. Caldas created the chance with some great moves in the left side of the penalty area, carrying the ball parallel to the end line. He beat his defender and send the ball past the Colonial goalkeeper inside hte six to Nwegbo, who was there to tap it in.
Following Nwegbo's second goal, the sky opened up with torrential rains and the scoring deluge nearly continued. The winner nearly came a minute later off a free kick near midfield. Senior
Alfredo Bozalongo provided the service and Nwegbo got on the end of it, heading to an open Levengood. The All-CAA forward finished off the post but was ruled to be offsides negating the goal.
Scoring Summary
41' | GW – Omar Hayes Brown (unassisted)
63' | W&M –
Diba Nwegbo (unassisted)
71' | GW – Tom Cooklin (Elias Norris/Nico Krueger)
84' | W&M –
Diba Nwegbo (
Lucas Caldas)
Starters
W&M - #25 Nikcevic (GK), #4 Bradley, #6 Bozalongo, #7 Levengood, #8 Villeda, #9 Nwegbo, #11 Messer, #13 Crocco, #14 Knapp, #20 Einarsson, #23 Core
GW - #1 Grady (GK), #2 Matuszewski, #3 Cedeno, #4 Kronenberg, #6 Tenne, #8 Neumann, #9 Hayes Brown, #10 Cooklin, #14 Carvalho, #20 Turay, #26 Humm
Inside the Numbers
- Nwegbo has eight career goals, while the assist was the first of Caldas's collegiate career.
- W&M outshot GW, 10-9, with each putting four shots on frame. Both teams also tallied six corner kicks.
- It was a physical match, featuring 32 total fouls (18 for W&M, 14 for GW) and six cautions, three for each team.
Up Next
The Tribe opens the home portion of the schedule, hosting Coastal Carolina on Sunday, Aug. 28. Kickoff is set for 4 p.m. and the game will be broadcast on FloFC.
