CLINTON, Miss. --- After trailing by two goals with under seven minutes remaining, the Mississippi College men's soccer team rallied and advanced to the National Christian College Athletic Association MidEast Regional championship match with a 3-1 victory in the penalty shootout over Campbellsville University on Friday afternoon at Longabaugh Field.
The match goes down as a 3-3 draw in the results with the Choctaws moving on with the penalty kick win.
The Choctaws (11-5-1) rode the wave of momentum from the late comeback as freshman goalkeeper
Humberto Pelaez saved the opening attempt by Alex Ryan. Freshman
Eduardo Reza stepped up and gave the Choctaws a 1-0 lead in the penalty kicks. Marcelo Petit made his attempt to tie the match, but junior
Kase Kingery gave the Choctaws the lead right back.
After the Tigers (13-6-1) hit the post with the next attempt, senior
Francisco DeAnda pushed the lead to 3-1 with a conversion. Campbellsville's next attempt went over the frame and the Choctaws clinched the victory.
DeAnda got the scoring going in regulation with his 8th goal of the season in the 20th minute when freshman
Elliot Rimmer found him wide open in the box for the goal. The match would go into the halftime break with MC holding on to the 1-0 advantage.
The Tigers wasted no time tying the match then grabbing the lead in the opening minutes of the second half. Petit scored his 21st goal of the season in the 47th minute, while Alex Higdon tallied the go-ahead goal in the 50th minute. Petit would add another goal in the 74th minute and Campbellsville appeared head to the championship.
The Choctaws received a spark from DeAnda in the 84th minute when he scored on an assist from
Ewahia Amhanesi. Just over a minute later, senior
Brian Vasquez scored the equalizer, his sixth goal of the season, as freshman
Luis Montes found him open in the box.
MC moves on to face the winner of the Lee and Bluefield match being played at 2:00 p.m. on Friday. The championship match is scheduled to begin at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday.
