On the weekend of Saturday, November 9 and Sunday, November 10, the AIC women’s and men’s soccer teams made history by both winning against the Adelphi teams in the quarter finals in Long Island, New York, on Adelphi University Campus.

The AIC men’s soccer team was the 8th seed of the NE-10, just enough to make the playoffs. The men’s soccer team faced Adelphi for the quarter finals at Adelphi University. The men’s team started winning 1-0 with a goal in the first half.

After the first goal, the Yellow Jackets lacked defense in their game, and they got scored on twice. With a disadvantage of 2-1 in the second half, the men’s team had to respond to this upsetting result.

The captain, Jake Durham, from England, scored a goal from a corner. The ball bounced back three times before Durham decided to hit the back of the net with a kick from his right foot.

The score was tied 2-2 at the end before they headed into over-time. In the first half of over-time, both teams struggled with placing the ball behind the goal line.

The whistle for the second half was blown and the Yellow Jackets made a statement with three corner kicks in a row and one free kick. The free kick allowed captain Jake Durham to finally place the ball in the goal.

“I got to lead the team into overtime and to the end of the game,” Durham said. “I do not have words to describe the feeling of scoring the game-winning goal. All I remember was that everything was in slow motion and the ball left my foot and crushed the back of the net. It was definitely one of the best moments on a football pitch I have ever had in my career.”

With the golden goal rule (which says that the team that scored the goal in overtime is the winning team), the Yellow Jackets added a win to their playoff game. Men’s soccer now faces Assumption at home on Wednesday, November 13.

Jake Durham also added, “I felt amazing throughout the entire match. The team has worked so hard over the season and we earned the right to be in playoffs. I felt really confident, no nerves at all. I stayed calm throughout the game because there was nothing to be nervous about.”

The women’s team was not so lucky when it came to goals. The team faced Adelphi at Adelphi University as well. The Yellow Jackets went to the game with nervous butterflies in their stomachs. It was a lot of pressure for the women’s team.

Both AIC and Adelphi started off the game really nervous but consistent at the same time. With many shots on goal by both teams, the teams seemed to be on an equal playing field. However, teams were playing panic by the second half. Both needed the win to continue their soccer season.

The game was tied by the end of second half, pushing the game into an over-time period to decide on a victor. The result was not looking good for either team during the over-time period either.

After the end of the second half of over-time, the refs set both teams up for penalty kicks. Both teams chose nine people to be on the half-field line. There were five penalty kicks, and goalie Tamra Zippin saved one, helped to secure victory for the Yellow Jackets.

Tamra Zippin, the goal-keeper redshirt sophomore transfer student from Southern Connecticut, commented on the penalty kicks. “On the PK’s, Isa told me I had to make one save,” Zippin said. “And as soon as he told me that, I focused on that one save I had to make. As I stepped on the goal line, threw my body across the air and felt the ball hitting my hands I started celebrating immediately. After that, I had nothing but confidence that we were going to win the game and make every penalty kick. And that is what we did.”

The team won their quarter finals game and continued their soccer season. The Yellow Jackets have not been in the semi-finals since 2013.

“Throughout the match, I knew I had to stay locked in the whole time,” Zippin added. “I knew as soon as I let my mind rest from paying attention just for a second, that could have been crucial and everything could have changed. I knew that I had to do anything I could to block every single shot Adelphi took. And I did.”