After it was over, the crowd at Stevenson Field fell silent for only the second time Wednesday night. Several men's soccer players collapsed to the field, while others stood in disbelief as Old Dominion University's Ambane Emmanuel tore off his shirt and streaked for the corner flag after scoring the overtime goal that gave the Monarchs a 2-1 win.
Twice, the unseeded Monarchs struck unexpectedly, with the finally tally sending the favored No. 6 seed Bears and their postseason hopes home in the second round of the NCAA tournament. Brown ends the year 15-2-1 overall.
The Bears' week-and-a-half layoff between games showed early in the game, as Old Dominion clearly held the upper hand. Brown couldn't string together more than two passes before turning the ball over, leading to Monarch counterattacks.
Just eight minutes into the match, ODU capitalized on Brown's slow start by scoring on a fluky play. Midfielder A.J. Kulp, the Monarchs' points leader, took a seemingly innocuous free kick from 40 yards out, until it skidded off a defender inside the 18-yard box and skipped by goalie Paul Grandstrand '11, who had no time to react.
"I was just trying to get one of my guys and it worked out," Kulp said, who added that he was still surprised at his goal.
"The goal was tentative like our play in the first half," said a visibly shocked Head Coach Mike Noonan after the game.
The goal put Bruno in a quick 1-0 hole, a situation the team had not often faced this season. The deficit woke the Bears up however, and they generated a few chances later in the half, but could not find the equalizer before intermission.
Brown's best opportunity came with 13:31 to play in the half, when forward T.J. Thompson '10, who had just entered the game, received a pass from defender David Walls '11 on the right side of the 18-yard box. Thompson turned toward traffic in the middle of the field and ripped a left-footed shot just over the outstretched arms of Monarch goalie Evan Newton - and just over the crossbar.
Down 1-0 at halftime, Brown turned it around in the second half, dominating play the rest of the way.
"In the first half we were feeling it out. We came out tentative" said co-captain Matt Britner '07.5. "In the second half we had more confidence. We got a goal, which got the crowd into it, which got us into it."
The tying goal came just 3:08 into the second half. A Walls corner kick was knocked down at the penalty area and it trickled to forward Kevin Davies '08 at the right edge of the 6-yard box. Davies appeared to have a wide open net, but Newton scrambled to the near post and deflected Davies' point-blank shot out for a corner.
Walls took the ensuing corner kick from the right side and sent it to the back post, where it was knocked back to the near post. Davies found the rebound about 10 yards out, took one dribble and lofted a left-footed shot over the crowd of players and into the top left corner to tie the score.
"I had the right side open, but the goalie came across quickly," Davies said. "The play after, I was at the right place at the right time and I just finished it."
The tally pumped new energy into the home crowd and team. The Bears controlled play and had many more opportunities than the Monarchs for the remainder of the game.
Bruno received particularly strong play from its defense, led by Britner, the Ivy League Player of the Year, and defensive midfielder Chris Roland '10, whose recently bleached blonde hair dashed around the pitch and won nearly every 50-50 ball. The team also had solid production from midfielders Laurent Manuel '08 and Jeff Hay '10, filling in Darren Howerton '09, who was out with an illness.
Despite Brown's pressure, Old Dominion stayed strong, anchored by its defense, which has surrendered just 15 goals all season.
"All season, we bend but we don't break," Kulp said. "(Brown) had a lot of chances, a lot of corners. Credit our defense for holding them off."
ODU was able to prevent Brown from scoring a go-ahead goal for the rest of regulation, despite numerous opportunities for the Bears.
In overtime, Brown continued the onslaught. With each cross, each shot, the crowd grew louder, expecting the Bears to break through at any second.
"We have a belief that we only need five seconds to score," Davies said. "One play, one cross. We've won four overtime games already this season."
With Brown still unable to get the winner, despite out-shooting the Monarchs 3-0 in the first overtime, the game went to a second extra period. With a penalty-kick shootout looming and only 3:15 to play, the Monarchs shocked the entire stadium again with another quick strike. Midfielder Nane Joseph played a long ball from deep in his own end over the top to a sprinting Emmanuel. Defender Rhett Bernstein '09 was locked in a footrace with Emmanuel and appeared to have reached the ball first when he started to slip. Bernstein fell, leaving Emmanuel one-on-one against Grandstrand. The Brown keeper came out to cut down the angle, but had no chance: Emmanuel easily chipped the ball into the left side of the net from 16 yards out.
"The difficult thing is that it's so hollow after what this team accomplished all season. Its like going to a funeral," Noonan said. "This team has more character and trust then any team I have seen at Brown."
The loss was Brown's third straight in the NCAA tournament's second round. The Bears fell to Duke University last year, and the University of Maryland in 2005.
Still, the team pointed to its fantastic regular season as the silver lining.
"The whole team has something special this year. I'm proud of this team," Britner said. In addition, Britner is optimistic about the team's future. Britner, Davies, Manuel and Jon Behrendt '08 will not return next year, but the majority of the team's nucleus will be back for another run next season.
"We have a good program and tradition and I don't expect anything to change," Britner said.
