BOX SCORE

BEREA – Early on in their Ohio Athletic Conference semifinal match with Baldwin Wallace, things were not looking up for the Heidelberg University men's soccer team. The Yellow Jackets put up a pair of goals in the first three minutes and led the Student Princes 3-0 at the break with what seemed to be an insurmountable lead. The Berg would not back down, however, as a pair of early second-half goals, some late heroics and a golden goal propelled Heidelberg to a 4-3 double-overtime victory, sending them on to the OAC Championship game on Saturday.

These two squads met earlier in the season on October 8th at the same location, battling to a scoreless draw, but the Yellow Jackets made sure this match was not a repeat performance, taking a quick strike. A corner kick found an open Bill Gamble, who headed it into the goal, giving Baldwin Wallace a 1-0 lead in just the 2nd minute.

The Yellow Jackets struck again less than two minutes later when Ben Deighton scored off of an assist by David Elsen in the third minute, giving BW a 2-0 lead less than three minutes into the match.

Heidelberg had their chances in the opening period, but there were unable to break through, and Baldwin Wallace went on to extend their lead in the 31st minute when a ball was chipped over the keeper to give the Yellow Jackets the 3-0 lead that would remain heading into halftime. Despite being down by three goals, the Student Princes were only out-shot 7-8 in the half.

Heading into the second half, Heidelberg knew what they had to do to extend their season and the coaching career of head coach Dr. Brian Haley. Building some confidence right away, things paid off when Chris Koczak found Tyler Eoff in the box, who beat the keeper to get Heidelberg on the board in the 49th minute.

The Student Princes got possession right back and Eoff found his way into the box, scoring again to cut the lead to just one less than a minute after his previous goal.

After the two goals, the defenses battled with both teams having chances, but the two sides holding up. In the 59th minute, Hamid Shariff placed a corner kick beautifully to the back post, but a teammate was unable to make a touch on the ball as the opportunity passed by with Heidelberg still trailing by one.

With less than seven minutes to play in the match, the Student Princes needed some magic, and magic was what they received when Kyle Simpson played a long ball to Alexis Mendoza, who chipped it over the keeper for the equalizer in the 84th minute.

A pair of yellow cards on Baldwin Wallace players and a couple shot attempts per team were made in the remainder of the second half, but the two teams would go on to overtime with the score knotted at three.

The first overtime period was not very eventful with both teams getting off one shot with neither of them coming on goal, sending the match to a second overtime period.

Less than two minutes into the second overtime period, a little déjà vu happened for Heidelberg when Simpson played another long ball over the defense, finding the feet of Mendoza, who chipped the it over the Yellow Jacket keeper and into the goal, capping the monumental comeback and giving the Student Princes the statement victory.

"This was the greatest night of my football career" said head coach Brian Haley. "Why did it take 26 years to win the biggest game of my life?"

Coming from behind with a 3-0 deficit, there is no wonder about his excitement. "I told them at halftime that this would be the greatest night in Heidelberg history ... and everyone on our team believed it, from the guys on the field to the guys on the bench. We had a very slow start, and they punished ups on set pieces. You would think we were dead and buried. A goal can change everything, and that's what Tyler did. He gave us hope."

Haley was able to sum up the performance pretty simply when he said, "We have a saying on our team, 'One team. One Squad.' And that was on display tonight. To come back from three goals down? Incredible."

The Student Princes will now head to the OAC Chapmionship game on Saturday, November 8, at John Carroll. That match is scheduled to kick off at 7:00 p.m. at Don Shula Stadium in University Heights, with the winner earning an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III tournament.

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