MANKATO, Minn. - The Bethany Lutheran men's soccer team scored with 22 seconds left to tie the game 2-2 with Crown in the UMAC semifinals before eventually going on to defeat the Polars 4-2 in penalty kicks to advance to the UMAC Championship. With the result the Vikings improve to 12-6-3 on the year while the Polars move to 10-10-1.
Crown applied a ton of pressure to the Vikings in the first few minutes of the contest and they would eventually capitalize in the 21st minute.
Nick Lundberg would have to come out of the net to try to stop a shot but would foul the Crown player and they were given a penalty kick that they would convert for the early 1-0 lead.
That score would hold as the team's headed to the half but Crown wouldn't take long to get their second goal of the game in the second. It was just two minutes in when leading scorer Timmy Jackson would turn just outside of the box and fire a shot into the top left corner of the net for the 2-0 lead.
The Vikings would then start to pick up their attack and would finally cut the deficit in half in the 65th minute. It was
Ben Klausen who took it himself, as he would evade a few defenders and turn and fire a shot from the edge of the box into the top left corner to make it 2-1.
Bethany would then start to push the pedal to the floor as time wound down, but they were stymied over and over by the stout Crown defense. With time draining and all hope seeming lost, they would send one more up ahead where
Gijs van Eldik would control and flip to the side to
Daniel Almeida. Almeida would get by a defender on the right side and knock it past the keeper for the dramatic equalizer.
The game would then head to an overtime, where each team would control portions of the two 10 minute periods. In the first the Vikings would control and get three shots off on net but Crown keeper Leo Roque saved all three to send it to a second. In the second it was Crown who had the great chance as they had a corner resulting in a shot that Lundberg would save as things went to penalty kicks.
The game would then go to PK's and van Eldik would convert the first for Bethany. Lundberg would then get a massive save to give them the lead but a Viking miss would re-even the odds. Two straight makes from both teams including success' from Almeida and Klausen would put the Vikings up 3-2 headed to the Polars fourth kick. Lundberg would then make a huge save diving to his left before
Jamie van Wijland would knock one home to seal the win and send the Vikings to the UMAC Championships.
Lundberg made four saves in the contest not including the two that were made during penalty kicks.
Bethany will now match up with UW-Superior on Saturday at 12 p.m for the fifth straight year in the UMAC Championship.
