NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Ethan Summers used two second-half goals to power the Lipscomb men’s soccer team to a 3-2 victory over Oral Roberts and a second-place finish in the Hyatt Place Select Lipscomb Invitational on Sunday afternoon at the Lipscomb Soccer Complex.

“Great fight from the boys today,” Lipscomb head coach Charles Morrow said. “It felt like they come out with a well-deserved win.”

The Bisons (2-4-0, 0-0-0 ASUN) fell behind 2-1 in the second half before utilizing a couple of Golden Eagle (0-4-0, 0-0-0 Southland) mistakes to tie the game and ultimately the victory.

Griffith Pointdexter scored the first goal for the Golden Eagles in the third minute as he received a corner kick from Gerardo Salas and headed the ball into the net.

After an ORU foul outside the 18-yard box, sophomore Omar Djabi bent the ball around the Golden Eagle wall, placing it in the upper-corner to tie the game in the seventh minute.

In the 60^th minute, Tyler Hill of Oral Roberts picked up a loose ball off a corner kick and promptly placed it into the goal from 20-yards out for the 2-1 Golden Eagle lead.

With time ticking down, the intensity on the field was building. Over the next twenty minutes, the game was focused in the midfield with neither team able to gain an edge. The two squads combined for seven fouls, three yellow cards and a red card, given to ORU.

With the one man advantage, the Bisons began to overpower the Golden Eagles in the last ten minutes awaiting their moment to strike and it came in the 88^th minute.  Freshman Reece Holcomb used a header that was swatted wide right of the goal setting up a Bisons corner kick.

On the ensuing corner kick, Oral Roberts got a hand on the ball giving the Purple and Gold a penalty kick. Summers, a fifth year senior and zero career goals, stepped in for the Bisons. Faking the goalkeeper in one direction, Summers placed the ball unharmed into the net to tie the game.

In the 90^th minute, Holcomb had a breakaway attempt to give the Bisons the victory. However, Ryan Grashik, the ORU goalkeeper, committed a foul 25 yards from the goal, drawing the second Golden Eagle red card and killing the Bisons attack.

With the two-man advantage in the overtime period, Summers decided he didn’t like to have just one career goal next to his name. Junior Kyle Erickson took aim with his shot from the top of the box which was deflected by the new Golden Eagle Goalkeeper Daniel McCarthy. The team captain, Summers, was in perfect position to take the deflection using his head for the game-winner.

Lipscomb controlled the second-half and overtime period en route to outshooting the Golden Eagles 17-8. Holcomb had four shots while Summers tallied three.

Djabi, Summers and Jeremy Reid were named to the All-Tournament Team.  Elon won the tournament winning both their games and had midfielder Chris Thomas named the Tournament MVP.

“The team did a good job of battling back today,” Morrow said. “We need to do a better job of tightening down defensively on set pieced, seems to be a trend for us. We will give that a lot of attention this week.”

The Bisons continue in tournament action with the Belmont Tournament starting Friday, Sept. 14^th with a 3:30 p.m. match against Bradley at E.S. Rose Park. 

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