Centre is on to the championship game of the inaugural SCAC Men's Soccer Tournament after a 1-0 victory over top-seeded Trinity in the final minute of the first overtime on Saturday in Birmingham, Ala.

The two teams were scoreless through 99 minutes of play before senior forward Ben Van Nevel (Louisville, Ky.) scored on an assist from Tony Distler (Louisville, Ky.) after a free kick by Jeremy Smith (Cincinnati, Ohio) with 24 seconds remaining in the first overtime period. The goal was the sixth of the season for Van Nevel and the assist Distler's first.

"We got the free kick at midfield, Tony Distler headed it back into the middle and I saw it dropping," Van Nevel said after the game in an SCAC postgame interview. "I knew I had to connect with it so I stretched out, left foot volley, connected well, and it went in. It was a great moment."

The loss was the first to a conference opponent for No. 4 Trinity since falling 1-0 to Centre on Nov. 6, 2005. Since then, the Tigers had been 57-0-1 against conference opponents, the only blemish being a tie with DePauw in 2008. The teams had also met once previously this season with Trinity winning 3-0 in Danville on Sept. 30.

"It's a Centre-Trinity game," Colonels head coach Jeb Burch said in his interview. "I've been around 22 of these, and they're unpredictable. They're always a hard fought game, and both teams really respect each other. There's always a lot of quality out on the field, and it makes for exciting games every year."

Senior goalkeeper Chris Jackson (Oxford, Ohio) made three saves in the win and notched his eighth shutout of the year. Trinity's Matt Cardone made six saves.

Trinity outshot Centre 16-9 in the game, though Centre was able to put seven of those on frame to Trinity's five. Trinity held a 7-0 edge in corners.

The victory improves Centre's record to 13-5-1 on the season while Trinity falls to 14-1-2. The Colonels advance to Sunday's championship game where they will face Oglethorpe (15-3) at 2:30 p.m.

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