The men’s soccer team played a double overtime game for the second time this season Saturday night, but this time Yale came out on top. The Bulldogs (1–5) recorded their first, long awaited win of 2010 when they topped the Sacred Hearts Pioneers (4–2), 2–1, in double overtime at Reese Stadium.

The Elis entered Saturday night with a trail of losses behind them but displayed confidence against the team that had defeated them 4–0 last season.

[ydn-legacy-photo-inline id=”6227″ ]

“Against Sacred Heart, we had 100 percent commitment for the entire game,” midfielder Andy Hackbarth ’12 said. “In the previous games, we had some small lapses that really hurt us, but [Saturday] night everyone worked extremely hard to get that result.”

The Bulldogs were not at their best in the first half, allowing the Pioneers to get on the board early when Justin Brewer buried a goal behind Yale goalie Bobby Thalman ’13 in the 23rd minute.

But with the second half came a surge of possession and power for the home team.

“After going down 1–0, we came out in the second half with much more aggression,” captain and midfielder Andy Shorten ’11 said. “We put pressure on their defense and created more turnovers.”

Yale’s hard work paid off in the 60th minute, when the Bulldogs capitalized on a Pioneer turnover in the midfield.

Midfielder Cody Wilkins ’14 took possession of the ball and dribbled up the side before releasing a pinpoint cross that found forward Peter Jacobson ’14 in front of the net. The freshman striker’s one-timer, his first career goal, tied the score at 1–1.

“I was relieved with the goal because our defense has been playing well, but the offense had not been able to reward the team’s hard work,” Jacobson said.

After a few more close scoring chances for the Bulldogs, the whistle blew to end regulation time.

The Elis retained their composure and possession into overtime but had to wait until the 107th minute of the game for their chance. The opportunity arose when midfielder Eric Meyer ’11 was fouled by Pioneer keeper Alex Fait in the box, giving the home team a penalty kick. Hackbarth stepped up to take the shot and handled the pressure well, as he placed the ball past Fait to end the game and reward the Bulldogs with their first win of the season.

“As soon as I hit it, I knew it was going in,” he said. “It feels great to get the first win of the season.”

The Bulldogs will look to have a repeat performance when they travel to Quinnipiac on Tuesday for a 4 p.m. kick-off.