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Dirty Tackle - World Soccer

Dirty Tackle

Thu Oct 07 01:59pm EDT

There's another member in the fastest-goal club

By Brooks Peck

Clark University sophomore Will Van Noppen equaled the NCAA Division III men's record for fastest goal in a match with his bold effort off the opening kickoff in a match against Wheaton College. Officially timed at four seconds, the shot must have caught the goalkeeper by surprise as it went just over his outstretched hand and just under the crossbar.

Despite that opening shock, Wheaton managed to recover and ended up winning the match, 2-1, thanks to a goal from sophomore Will Nesbitt in the 37th minute. Thus reminding us all that even if you score in the first four seconds, the next 90 minutes can still cause problems.

[Related: Major embarrassment after goalie celebration]

This isn't the first time Van Noppen has scored a goal right off a kickoff -- it's not even the first time this season. He also did it to open the second half of a 7-1 win over Colby-Sawyer College back in September on his way to a hat trick.  

Scoring a four-second goal off an opening kickoff has been done a few times before in NCAA history. Stuart Hulke of Roger Williams University is in the record book for doing it in 1999 and Yael Averbuch did it for the North Carolina women's team in 2006.

Al Hilal's Nawaf Al Abed was credited with scoring a two-second goal in Saudi Arabia in 2009, but it seems closer to four. Either way, these goals will all serve as further inspiration to countless FIFA 11 players. 

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