Crown advances to UMAC men's soccer semifinal on penalty kicks
MORRIS, Minn.---The Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) men's soccer postseason kicked off with a thrilling quarterfinal between No. 4 seed University of Minnesota Morris and No. 5 Crown College as the game moved into overtime thanks to a late=game goal before the Storm moved on after penalties Monday.
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After being down 2-1 with 10 minutes left in the game, the Storm picked up a goal in the final 56 seconds to send the game to overtime. The game ended in a 2-2 tie and the Storm advanced to Wednesday's semifinal against top-seed University of Wisconsin-Superior after stringing together a 4-2 advantage in the penalty kicks.
The game started with a scoreless first half with back-and-forth play before No. 4 Crown got on the board first on a goal to the lower left corner by Storm Heyer in the 64th minute. The Cougars responded nearly nine minutes later with the equalizer from Aaron Wackerfuss in the 72nd minute with a score off a deflection.
In the 80th minute, Tristan Balk put the Cougars up 2-1 when he scored on a cross pass from Jake Alessio to put his team in the driver's seat. A late surge by the Storm set up another opportunity for Heyer who put away a loose ball in the final minute of regulation.
The teams continued to battle for 20 more minutes but the tie still stood forcing the game to be decided on kicks. Crown led off with two goals from Mason Shrewsberry and Jason Kragt, while Minnesota Morris got a score from John Hoff. After a save from keeper Eli Etzel, the Storm went up 3-1 on a score from Ger Jones.
Wackerfuss pulled the Cougars within one scoring on the next change before Heyer missed. Another miss from the Cougars set up Harvey Holcombe with the fifth-and-final deciding shot. His conversion sent the Storm into the semifinal.
Etzel led the Storm with four saves in goal, while Heyer tallied two goals on the day on his team-leading two shots on goal. Lucas Harmon made two saves for the Cougars and Denis Ostroushko led with three shots.
The No. 5 Storm will now travel Wednesday to face the No. 1 seed University of Wisconsin-Superior at 4 p.m. in Superior, Wisconsin. The second semifinal will see No. 3 seed Martin Luther College take on No. 2 College of St. Scholastica at 11 a.m. in Duluth, Minnesota.
Playoff Schedule
Quarterfinal Round – Monday, Oct. 29
No. 5 Crown ties No. 4 Minnesota Morris 2-2 (Crown advances on penalties) |
Box Score |
CC Recap |
UMM Recap |
Semifinal Round – Wednesday, Oct. 31
No. 5 Crown AT No. 1 Wisconsin-Superior; Superior, Wis., 4 p.m. |
Live Stats |
Live Video |
No. 3 Martin Luther AT No. 2 St. Scholastica; Duluth, Minn., 11 a.m. |
Live Video |
Live Stats |
Championship – Saturday, Nov. 3
Lowest remaining seed at highest remaining seed; Location and time, TBD
Ticket Information
All UMAC postseason events have the following set admissions prices: Adults, $10; college students and seniors, $5; youth (Age 6-18), $5; age 5 and under, FREE. Any UMAC students, faculty and staff are free with a valid and current institutional ID. No other passes will be accepted.
All tournament information including scores, recaps, team information and more can be found on the UMAC Men’s SoccerTournament page. Keep up with all of the tournament action on Twitter and Instagram using #UMACchamp.