Maine Maritime Survives to Record Tie With Colby

Castine, Maine – The Maine Maritime Academy Men’s Soccer team overcame 56 shots to record a 0-0 tie with the visiting White Mules from Colby College on Wednesday evening at Ritchie Field. Junior keeper Jeff Butland (Cumberland, ME) was the star of the match, making 16 outstanding saves, allowing MMA to record the impressive tie.

Maine Maritime and Colby College played to a scoreless first half despite Colby’s 20-0 shot advantage. The White Mules had several good scoring chances, but MMA keeper Jeff Butland  kept the Mariners in the contest with 7 quality saves.

The second half featured much of the same with the White Mules outshooting MMA 17-5. The Mariners had three quality chances in the second stanza with the last chance coming with 16 seconds left. Colby defender Nick Nowak (Medfield, MA) made a game saving clear when Nate Tipton (West Chester, PA) flicked the ball past the Colby keeper and as the ball was headed into goal Nowak cleared it out of play. The match went into overtime with the score knotted at 0-0.

The first overtime went scoreless but not without chances for Colby. Colby midfielder Dan Sidman (Marston Mills, MA) blasted a shot from 22-yards that flew past Butland and rattled the crossbar before falling on the foot of Colby striker Scott Brown (Trumbull, CT). Brown then shot the ball from inside the box but Jeff Butland came up with another outstanding save to keep the score tied at 0-0.

Colby kept the pressure on in the second overtime but failed to get the ball past Butland. The White Mules recorded 19 shots in overtime while MMA had 1.

Jeff Butland recorded the tie for MMA improving his record to 2-2-1 on the season. Doug Sibor (Hingham, MA) and Dan Marden (Londonderry, NH) combined for the shutout for Colby making 0 saves in the match. MMA improves to 2-2-1 on the season while Colby improves to 0-1-1.