“Whenever you come back from a two-goal deficit to win the match, it tells you something about your team,” said MVNU head coach Paul Furey. “Usually, it is a good indication that there is something special there. For us to keep battling with time winding down and despite giving up a couple of soft goals, we demonstrated character and fortitude to come out with a nice win.”

The Cougars (5-1-0) spotted the Pioneers (2-4-0) a two-goal advantage before rallying for the victory. Lucas Martorana put Malone in front 1-0 midway through the first half when he converted a penalty kick opportunity after the MVNU was whistled for a foul in the box in the 28th minute.

The lead grew to 2-0 in the 63rd minute when Marcos Batchelor intercepted a pass, dribbled towards the goal, and fired a shot into the back of the net to give the Pioneers a cushion early in the second half.

The Cougars finally got on the scoreboard six minutes later when Lesmes collected a free kick from junior defender Zach Patterson and rifled home his third goal of the season to cut the deficit in half at 2-1.

Five minutes later, freshman midfielder Jake Reber sent a pass to freshman midfielder Cody Snouffer, who one-timed the ball to junior forward Sheldon Tugman (below right). Tugman finished off the play by finding the back of the net with his first goal of the season to knot the score at 2-2 with just over 16 minutes left in regulation.

After neither team scored again in regulation, the match moved into the first of what would be two 10-minute overtime periods. Following a scoreless first overtime period, Lesmes notched the golden goal in the 103rd minute as he scored off a corner kick by sophomore midfielder Scott Spangler to give MVNU the hard-fought 3-2 victory.

“Steve played with a lot of heart and played inspired soccer,” said Furey, whose team played without leading scorer Adam Worrall who missed the match due to a death in the family. “The first goal was important to get us back in the match, and his determination gave us the golden goal. On Sheldon’s goal, it was great that he could equalize for us. We had to play several players with Adam not playing and it was great to have Sheldon step up for us.”

Overall, it was a very solid performance by our backline as we had the better of play with more shots and scoring opportunities,” added Furey. “Even when we were down 2-0, I thought we were playing good soccer. It was a lot of mental toughness for us to overcome those goals and win this one.”

Sophomore goalkeeper Alex Stout posted three saves for the Cougars, while Mike Porter stopped seven shots for the Pioneers. MVNU out-shot Malone 19-10 overall and held a 6-3 advantage in corner kicks.

“We just need to build on this and come back tomorrow against a much improved Kenyon team and see if we can get another good result,” said Furey.

The Cougars will face host Kenyon at 5:00 p.m. on Saturday to determine the tournament title. The Lords (4-1-0) easily dispatched of Muskingum College in Friday’s other first round contest by the final score of 6-1. Muskingum and Malone will square off at 3:00 p.m. in Saturday’s other match.