Argos escape Delta State with double-overtime victory

October 21, 2012

Jack Salafrio scored the game-winning goal with less than a minute on the clock as UWF defeated DSU 3-2

Dillon Gallet had two goals in the Argos' 3-2 victory over Delta State (Photo by Bill Stockland)

Related Item: Box Score

CLEVELAND, Miss. – Two days after clinching the No. 1 seed in the Gulf South Conference, the West Florida Argonauts barely escaped Cleveland, Miss. with a 3-2, double-overtime victory. Jack Salafrio (Gainesville, Fla./Buchholz HS) scored the game-winning goal with 47 seconds on the clock as the Argos’ NCAA postseason hopes survived to see another day.

With less than a minute on the clock in the final overtime period, Felipe Oliveira (Kissimmee, Fla./Gateway HS) was one-on-one with the Delta State keeper inside the box, but his shot was deflected to the center of the box where it was momentarily tapped away from danger by a DSU defender.

But the ball landed in front of Salafrio in the semicircle and the junior shot into the net to give UWF the victory.

The Argos came into the weekend road trip ranked No. 4 in the South Region in the first set of NCAA rankings released Oct. 18. The top three teams play in the NCAA postseason.

UWF defeated Christian Brothers 2-1 on Oct. 19, but needed to win all of their remaining games to have a shot at moving up in the rankings.

DSU looked to play the spoiler, and got the scoring started on a penalty kick by Caue DaSilva with 15:09 on the clock in the first half. DaSilva was given the opportunity when Argo keeper Stuart McCrory (Prattville, Ala./Prattville HS), who was starting just his second game of the season, raced out from the net to try grab a long pass sent into the box. The Argo knocked DaSilva down inadvertently while the Statesman was attempting a shot.

Later in the half, Dillon Gallet (Lafayette, La./Lafayette HS) evened things up with his third goal of the season. Fernando Silveira (Brasilia, Brazil/Lincoln Memorial) sent a long pass from the Argo side of the field to Gallet, who drove the ball past two defenders into the box then shot above the head of the keeper who couldn’t get his arms up in time as the Argo tied the game 1-1 at the 28:32 mark.

After halftime, DSU took the lead back when Abraheem Saleh drove the ball to side of the box and Jake Pratt (Niceville, Fla./Niceville HS) just missed a slide tackle as Saleh crossed it to Sebastian Ridout toward the near post. Ridout deflected it into the net to give DSU a 2-1 lead with 64:22 on the clock.

The Argos battled back throughout the second half, and Gallet found the ball once again near the side of the DSU box. He worked past two defenders and then shot past a diving keeper for his second goal of the game and his fourth goal of the season to tie things up 2-2 at the 82:56 mark.

The two teams each had opportunities in the 19 minutes of overtime, but Salafrio made his chance count as UWF took the lead for the first and final time.

Salafrio scored the game-winner two days after recording two assists against CBU. Gallet has now tallied four goals and five assists over the last eight games.

McCrory recorded his first win of the season and nine saves in the victory.

UWF will wrap up the regular season on with a home game against Alabama-Huntsville on Oct. 26 at 5 p.m. and a home match against Shorter on Oct. 28 at 3 p.m.

For information on all UWF athletics, visit www.GoArgos.com.

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                          Soccer Game Summary (Final)
                           West Florida Men's Soccer
            West Florida vs Delta State (10/21/12 at Cleveland, MS)

West Florida (10-2-2, 8-0-2 GSC) vs. Delta State (7-8-1, 4-6-0 GSC)
Date: 10/21/12 Attendance: 147
Weather: Cloudy, 72F

Goals by period 1 2 OT O2 Tot
-------------------------------------
West Florida........ 1 1 0 1 - 3
Delta State......... 1 1 0 0 - 2

SCORING SUMMARY:
1. 15:09 DSUM Caue DaSilva (15) Penalty kick
2. 28:32 UWF Dillon Gallet (3) (Fernando Silveira) - From left side, score in top half from 15 yd out
3. 64:22 DSUM Sebastian Ridout (Abraheem Saleh) - one touch low cross in from left side
4. 82:56 UWF Dillon Gallet (4) (unassisted) - from left side, 15 yds
5. 109:14 UWF Jack Salafrio (2) (unassisted) - off rebound in front, 10 yards

Shots: West Florida 25, Delta State 17
Saves: West Florida 9 (Stuart McCrory 9), Delta State 14 (Mack Pytyck
14)