MORAGA, Calif. -- (Courtesy SMCGaels.com) -- For the second time this season, freshman Antonio Lokossou scored a dramatic game winner.  This time, his 97th minute score lifted the Saint Mary's men's soccer team to a 2-1 overtime victory over longtime rival Santa Clara in a West Coast Conference match at Saint Mary's Stadium.

The win gives Saint Mary's an 11-5-2 overall record and a 4-2-0 mark in league play.  The Gaels' 11 wins ties the most for a single season in program history and sets a new mark for most regular-season victories for a Saint Mary's men's soccer team.  

The University of San Diego clinched the league title and earrned the WCC's automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament last weekend.  Saint Mary's remains in contention for runner-up honors, depending on results from San Francisco and Loyola Marymount this weekend.  A victory at Pacific on Saturday would clinch at least a tie for second place in the WCC regular season.

"We had a moment of weakness when we gave up the tying goal with just nine seconds left in overtime," said SMC head coach Adam Cooper.  "But, our guys showed mental strength and character to defend well and push forward to score in the overtime period.  I'm proud of our win total this season.  But, we have one more match left in the regular season and we'll need a good performance on Saturday to earn a 12th victory."

Santa Clara (6-8-4, 2-3-1) compiled a narrow 16-12 overall lead in shots during the game and owned an 8-7 margin in shots on frame.  Michael Semenza and Will Kendal each led the Gaels with two shots, both of which were on target.

SMC's senior goalkeeper Andre Rawls registered a game-high seven saves.

Earlier this season, Lokossou scored the game-winning goal that gave SMC a 2-1 overtime victory at then 4th ranked Washington, the program's first ever over a top-5 ranked team.  

He earned hero status again today in the 97th minute.  Junior Gerardo Mendoza chased down a Lokossou cross that rolled all the way to the near corner and sent a line drive into the penalty area.  Semenza got a slight touch that was enough to direct the ball onto the path of Lokossou, who buried it past SCU keeper Carl Carrwik for the game winner.

The Gaels appeared to score the game winner at the 89:06 mark when Nicolas Gamp dribbled down the left side of the field and sent a hard cross in front of the goal.  Max Mirner connected on a right-footed shot from 8 yards out for the first goal of his career to put SMC ahead 1-0.

The Broncos pushed ahead looking for the equalizer, forcing a corner kick fron the right side with time counting down.  Max Ornstil pushed a short corner kick to Glenn Vass, who sent a looping pass into the box.  Matt Escobar headed it past Rawls with just nine seconds left on the clock.

Saint Mary's concludes its regular season Saturday with a 7 p.m. league contest at the University of the Pacific.  Links to live coverage of the match will be available on SMCGaels.com. 

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