BETHANY, Okla. — A whirlwind of emotions circled Bethany, Oklahoma last night as Southern Nazarene Men's Soccer continued their championship run by defeating Northeastern State 1-0 in overtime.
The top-seeded Storm (11-5-3, 8-2-2) faced their third matchup with the four-seed Riverhawks (9-6-3, 6-4-2) this season for a classic postseason rivalry match. Last season, No.1 SNU was stung by No. 4 Northeastern State 3-0 in the same semi-final match on Wes Harmon Field. A year later, the Storm returned the favor and fought through windy conditions and a scoreless 90 minutes to power through the Riverhawks with one overtime goal that sealed the victory.
It was a rough 90 minutes as the windy conditions in Bethany made it difficult for either team to gain any offensive momentum. Both squads traded shots the entirety of regulation, but no ball would find the back of the net. The Storm fired a couple of shots that were just shy of the goal, keeping the Riverhawks on high alert the entire match. With no score to be seen in the 90 minutes, both teams were rewarded 20 minutes of overtime to play.
The first 10 minutes of overtime featured tough defenses by both teams. SNU finally turned up the offense in the 98th minute as Bruno Ferreira found Juan Rodarte in the gap for a Storm goal, taking the first lead of the match at 1-0. Northeastern could not answer with the two minutes remaining and SNU controlled a one-goal lead with one more overtime to play.
SNU defended their lead the next 10 minutes as Northeastern struggled to get anything going on the offensive end. The Storm's backline, led by Alvaro Sanchez and Eric Romero, kept the Riverhawks away from goal territory. Unaiz Shajani picked up speed late in the second overtime and fired two shots, looking to extend SNU's lead even further, but both were off the mark. The Riverhawks ran out of time and Southern Nazarene claimed the semi-finals, overtime victory over Northeastern State with a final score of 1-0.
Southern Nazarene finished with six total shots on goal out of 12 total shots. SNU keeper Michele Barletta defended the goal, tallying two saves in the match.
With the win over NSU, the Storm move on to the GAC/MIAA Championship match against No. 2 Rogers State, who defeated No. 3 Fort Hays State 2-1 before SNU's match. SNU's victory was their first-ever GAC tournament win, making this Trevor Harmon's and his squads' first championship game appearance. SNU will take on Rodgers State Sunday, November 6th at 1 p.m. on Wes Harmon Field.
