Men's soccer captures win during Homecoming weekend

10/16/07 - Scoring the game-winning goal in the final minutes of a tie game with a flying left-footed volley is just plain good television. During Sunday's game, good television was exactly what midfielder Danleigh Borman and the rest of the University of Rhode Island men's soccer provided in their 2-1 victory over the University of Dayton.With Cox Sports cameras set up around the soccer field on Sunday, Borman took a chest high cross from forward Lukasz Tumicz and crushed it into the back of the net for the game winner in the 88th minute of play to cap a second half comeback for the Rams.

"It was an awesome feeling," Borman said. "That was my first goal of the season and to score a goal like that, it was awesome."

Borman's first goal of the season couldn't have come at a better time, as the Rams won their second conference game of the season after coming back from a 1-0 deficit in the second half.

"It was a good show, a very good show," head coach John O'Connor said, referring to playing in front of the cameras. "It was a great win. I don't like these types of [close come from behind] wins but I think it got the guys excited."

For the senior Borman, coming back and winning was all about battling for the entire game.

"We just had to grind it out," he said. "The hardest thing about being down is that first goal and then we got that goal and it gave us some momentum."

That first goal that provided the team with momentum was all about the grind it out mentality of Tumicz. With the team trailing by one after a Dayton goal early in the second half, Tumicz, who leads the team with seven goals this year, took it upon himself to bring the team back.

Tumicz stole the ball inside the Dayton box, and after being forced to dribble away with his back to the net, he turned sharply and sent the ball along the ground into the open net. "That's a great feeling," Tumicz said. "When we were down 1-0, everyone saw that we needed to start working harder and that's what we did. We knew we could win this game. Basically we needed to step up to the challenge and we did."

For O'Connor, the game was a little closer than he would have liked but he couldn't complain about the result.

"I don't like chasing the game. I like for [the other team] to be chasing us," O'Connor said. "I don't think you can ask for a better goal from Danleigh. You have to work hard and sometimes you need a little magic and we had it there."

The Rams did suffer one loss in the game. They will miss the services of senior Geoffrey Cameron in next week's game thanks to a red card. Cameron was shown the red after receiving his second yellow of the game when he tackled a player from behind in the final two minutes.

"Losing Cameron for the next game is really difficult," O'Connor said. "But it will be a lesson for him on how you handle yourself at those times."

With the win, the Rams are now 2-0 against Atlantic 10 competition after Friday night's 2-1 victory over Xavier University. The team will be on the road next weekend against two more conference opponents. They will travel to North Carolina to take on Charlotte on Friday and then on Sunday they will head to Missouri for a game against St. Louis.