Sophomore Brian Rogers came up huge for the Crimson once again on Friday night, netting a goal in the 89th minute against Stony Brook to force overtime. Harvard could not score in the extra period, tying, 1-1.

Once again, Brian Rogers refused to give up.

Standing 15 feet away from the net in the right center of the box, with the seconds ticking off the clock, he saw the ball deflect off a defender and land at his feet. Taking position, the sophomore forward aimed and fired.

The ball zipped past diving Stony Brook goalie Stefan Manz, and just like that, in the 90th minute, the game was tied.

It was not the first time Rogers had the flair for the dramatic this season, but his goal gave his struggling No. 21 Harvard men’s soccer team—winless in its previous three contests—a much-needed boost and propelled it to a 1-1 tie at LaVelle Stadium Friday night.

“Once they scored I just kept telling myself I would get at least one good opportunity,” Rogers said. “That opportunity just happened to come with 30 seconds left. I saw the ball, and I just tried to get it on frame, and luckily it went in.”

After getting the start over junior Austin Harms, sophomore Brett Conrad was solid in net for Harvard, making three saves in the contest.

“Coach [Carl] Junot highlighted a couple of games where I would get the opportunity to come in and show I could help the team,” Conrad said. “It was an interesting game to come into first game of the season, but I definitely think I held my own, showed the team some good stuff, and overall it was a good performance.”

Neither goalie faced much pressure in the first half, with Stony Brook controlling the tempo and outshooting Harvard, 3-2.

Conrad had the only save in the period, stopping a header off a free kick by Seawolf midfielder Mame Samb at the 17:39 mark.

After Crimson sophomore defender Richard Smith committed a foul later in the first half, a direct kick by Stony Brook midfielder Mihailo Pavlisin sailed over the net.

Early in the second half, the Seawolves applied pressure early. Forward Berian Gobeil Cruz got tangled up one-on-one with Conrad, who tripped Cruz, setting up a penalty kick.

Cruz’s ensuing shot beat Conrad to the right, putting Stony Brook up, 1-0, in the 49th minute. It was the fourth goal out of seven allowed this season for Harvard that came on a free kick or penalty kick.

“I think after we went down a goal, we kind of lost our way a little bit,” Rogers said. “It looked like people were losing confidence. We were a bit scrambled.”

Conrad nonetheless kept his team in the game as the second half played on, making saves off of shot attempts by Seawolf midfielder Leonardo Fernandes in the 69th and 83rd minutes.

With its back against the wall in the final minutes of the game, the Harvard offense finally began to pick up. Junior midfielder Jamie Rees had a shot go over the bar at 88:22, but exactly one minute later, Rogers’ third goal of the season sent the game into overtime.