Late Goal Sinks No.3 Men's Soccer at Dickinson, 2-1

CARLISLE, Pa. - Looking to rebound from its first defeat of the 2011 season, the No. 3 Swarthmore College men's soccer team (5-2, 1-1) suffered its second-consecutive road setback, this time in the waning minutes to Centennial rival Dickinson by the score of 2-1 on Saturday afternoon from Carlisle.

In the 82nd minute with the score deadlocked at 1-1 in an extremely physical contest, the Red Devils' Derek Kachadurian scored the game-winning goal with an assist from All-Conference performer Javier Mena to doom the Garnet's chances of earning a hard-fought road result against a game conference opponent.

Senior David Sterngold gave Swat the early 1-0 lead with his header goal in the 27th minute off a double assist from senior Fabian Castro and junior Kieran Reichert. The Garnet lead was short-lived, however, as Dickinson's Daniel Gaj  responded a goal of his own just 90 seconds later to make it a 1-1 game.

The match was definitely not for the faint of heart, as the two squads combined for 37 fouls and 10 cards -  three of which came in the final 10 minutes of play.

Things started off well for the Garnet in one of the toughest road environments in the Centennial Conference. Senior goalkeeper David D'Annunzio made a pair of saves on shots from Mena in the opening 25 minutes and Sterngold's team-leading fifth goal of the season gave the Garnet the 1-0 lead.

Dickinson found the equalizer just minutes later as Gaj - who came off the bench and into the game following Sterngold's goal - scored off an assist from Dickinson's P.J. Levinsky. The game would remain 1-1 through the half.

In the second half, the intensity of the game ramped up in the heated contest, as the officials handed out eight of the matches' 10 cards in the final 45. As the game went on, Swarthmore's offense struggled to get into any kind of rhythm, recording just two shots - none on target - in the second half.

The dagger came in the 82nd minute when Dickinson's Kachadurian got past D'Annunzio to seal the Red Devils' upset win over the defending Centennial champions.

The loss marks Swarthmore's first regular season Centennial Conference defeat since losing at Dickinson almost two years ago to the day (9/26/09) and the first time Swarthmore has lost back-to-back matches since September 2008.

D'Annunzio finished with three saves in net.

The Garnet will look to rebound when it hosts nationally-ranked Muhlenberg on Wednesday in a rematch of the 2010 Centennial championship match. Action is slated to begin at 7:00 p.m.