The Bucks County Centurions (1-2-2) gave the Montgomery Community College (1-2-2) Mustangs all they could handle, but would settle for a tie after double overtime for a 1-1 score on Sept. 12 at Montgomery.

The Centurions had played a solid first half of soccer, but still found themselves down 1-0 at the break. That’s when head coach Justin Burroughs would rally his team with a fiery half-time speech. Three minutes into the second half, Centurion forward James Haslett would tie the game on a well-placed kick.

“I got the ball on my feet and I saw the other team was coming in hard so I just started cutting it back and then just put it in the net,” Haslett said.

The level of play rose in Centurion players from there and they would keep Mustang goalie Brett Bosler busy for the rest of the afternoon.

The mostly-freshmen Centurion squad would come out of the gate aggressive, but that early eagerness translated into angst. After some pregame-jitters wore off, they were able to get the ball into the Mustang zone, but had trouble getting a shot on goal.

The Centurion offensive strategy seemed to be to rush the ball off one of first time goalie Trevor Hopf’s booming kicks. The Mustang defense would let the Centurions in deep, but had a “bend don’t break,” mentality.

The Centurion defense did impress in front of their rookie goalie as they would squash a couple of breakaway attempts by the Montgomery forwards.

After a Centurion penalty, Mustang forward Sean Treacy would open the scoring on a free kick that gave his team a 1-0 advantage.

“I just tried to bend it to the wide post because he (Hopf) left the wide post open, Treacy said. There (Bucks) wall was not centered so I just went right for it.”

Injury to insult followed the Centurions into the locker room when mid-fielder Daniel Robinson would injure his hamstring at the final gun.

Burroughs was not happy with his team’s lack of urgency and preached more teamwork and less selfish play. The team responded, and changed their strategy as they were playing off their defense to get additional chances for their already hungry offense.

The Mustangs were forced to rely on their defense to ward off the swarming Centurions that repeatedly threatened their net. On one such play Treacy would help out his goal tender by making a diving stop in the net’s crease.

For the most part it was the Centurions who would keep themselves out of the net.

“It was just unlucky really, Haslett would later say.  We were hitting the crossbar and the one I had on the goal tender I just put it wide.”

Those missed opportunities would keep the Mustangs alive long enough to match the Centurion’s intensity.

During overtime the two teams would also be battling the elements as a heavy rain began to fall. The Centurions kept the ball in the Mustang zone longer, but would come away empty.

After the game, Burroughs seemed impressed with his team’s rally.

“It was probably one of the best halves we played in the second because we actually played with some intensity, Burroughs said. Our shots were long and our touches were off, but at least we picked up the pace of the game.”