Tembo, Mangan lead Mustangs to overtime victory

It didn't take long for Benji Tembo to end Thursday's match against Bethesda.
 
You just needed to count to 19.
 
That's how many seconds it took for the senior All-American to score in overtime, handing The Master's a 3-2 victory over the visiting Flames on Reese Field.
 
The win was the final tune-up for a Mustang squad (8-2) that starts GSAC play next Thursday.
 
"We didn't have our best stuff today," said TMU head coach Jim Rickard.  "The last two games took a lot out of us physically and emotionally, and it showed today."
 
Tembo's goal was his fifth of the season and his team-high third game-winner.
 
He didn't do it by himself.  He got help from teammates Trevor Mangan and Leo Anjos. 
 
Anjos got the ball after Bethesda kicked off the extra period and headed it to Tembo, who chipped it through to Mangan.  The senior forward then delivered a perfect cross back to Tembo, who finished off the decisive sequence with a header past Bethesda keeper Renan Silva.
 
Mangan's sixth assist of the campaign capped off another huge day.  For the second time in three matches, he equaled a career-high with five points on two goals and the game-winning assist.
 
A little more than halfway through the season, Mangan has already equaled a career-high with eight goals and has set a personal high with 22 points.
 
"Trevor is on a tear," added Rickard.  "He showed great maturity and composure up top."
 
Before setting up Tembo in overtime, Mangan scored the game's first goal and then sent the match to the extra period with a late score.
 
Just 6:24 into the game, Mangan, off a pass from Anjos, put the Mustangs ahead 1-0.
 
They wouldn't score again until the 85^th minute.  In between, the Flames proved to be pesky.
 
They tied the match at 35:58 on a goal by Diogo Pereira and then went ahead at 46:36 on a score by Thiago Da Silva.
 
That 2-1 score looked like it might stand up for a Bethesda upset.
 
However, Mangan squashed that hope with 5:42 (84:18) remaining when he took a pass from Trevor Howard and put it past Silva to tie the match.
 
Minutes later, Mangan and Tembo teamed up to end the match.
 
Now, the Mustangs have a week to prepare for their GSAC opener, a huge match against 11^th-ranked and defending conference regular-season champion, Vanguard.
 
Next Thursday's game is slated to kick off at 4:00pm on Reese Field.