Box Score

MORRIS, Minn. -- The Northwestern College men's soccer team fought the University of Minnesota Morris to a 1-1 double overtime tie on Tuesday afternoon, but the Eagles will watch the Cougars move on in the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) Tournament due to UMM winning a shootout 5-3.

NWC scored the first goal of the game, setting the tone in the ninth minute as Joshua Wolderich (Ferndale, Wash./Hillcrest Academy) headed in Mark Habeck (Winona, Minn./Winona)'s corner kick past the Cougars' keeper, Jacob Borash. Northwestern continued to play aggressive soccer, keeping the ball in play on Morris' half of the pitch on a consistent basis.

With less than 30 seconds to go before halftime, the Eagles were called for a foul in the box, and the Cougars' Ebrima Badgie sent his penalty kick straight into the net past NWC's Shane Coleman (Wyoming, Minn./Homeschool) to knot the score at 1-1.

Neither team was able to sneak in a goal in the second half as the end result was going to be determined in extra time. Both teams went scoreless in the first ten-minute overtime period, and then again in a second 10-minute period, forcing a shootout to decide which of the two teams was going on to face the College of St. Scholastica in Duluth, Minn. in Saturday's tournament championship game.

After both head coaches swapped out their starting goalkeepers, with Northwestern's Greg Wheaton going to Eric Bocan (Anoka, Minn./Meadow Creek) and the Cougars tabbing Taylor Shertler, Minnesota Morris won the pre-shootout coin toss and elected to go first. Matthew Bennis made good on Morris' first attempt, beating Bocan in the lower left-hand corner of the net. NWC followed with Sam Mann (Woodbury, Minn./St. Paul Central), the team's leading goal-scorer in 2012. Mann's shot was saved by Shertler, putting the Eagles behind. The Cougars made their remaining four PK attempts, while Northwestern made their second, third and fourth shots. With Morris having already won the shootout, NWC did not attempt a fifth shot.

Northwestern was only able to get two shots on goal throughout the entire 110 minutes of play while Morris (12-7-2, 11-3 UMAC) countered with five. Coleman saved every shot that came his way that wasn't from 12 yards out during paused time. Each team had seven corner kick opportunities on the day.

The Eagles' 2012 campaign will come to a close with the tie, with Northwestern finishing the year on a 10-8-3 note, having gone 8-4-2 in UMAC play.