Trailing 2–1 late during regular time in Tuesday’s US Open Cup match against amateur side Brooklyn Italians, the City Islanders were in need of some dramatic help.

Geoff Bloes provided it, side-volleying an equalizer to force the game into extra time, with a little help from JT Noone.

Said Bloes, who scored the overtime winner against New York Revolution in last year’s US Open Cup,“It was J.T. that flicked it on and everybody just ran to the ball. I knew all I had to do was get over the ball so it wasn’t going over the goal.”

Bloes, who also had two assists, usually plays left back. But in Friday’s match against Pittsburgh Riverhounds, City Islanders coach Bill Becher pushed him to forward with about 15 minutes left in the match and Harrisburg down 1-0. Bloes then assisted on Nick Zimmerman’s game-tieing goal. On Tuesday night, Bloes started up front where, in addition to the goal and two assists, he also had a goal called back and hit the crossbar in extra time.

Bloes is no stranger to playing forward. He set a new school record at Shippensburg University for goals with 51 over 77 games and was twice named Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Athlete of the Year.

Coach Becher said, “Geoff took his chances and made the most of them up there. In college and high school he scored tons of goals. It’s not a shock that he was able to get a goal and two assists. We’re hoping that what he tonight is going to be a spark for our team.”