BOWLING GREEN, Ky. — It took extra time and penalty kicks to decide a Mid-South Conference tournament champion and Campbellsville men's soccer came up just short. No. 13 Cumberland knocked off the seventh-ranked Tigers to advance in PK's, 5-4.
Cumberland converted all five of its penalty shootout chances, including the decisive score by Josh Armstrong. The Bulldogs picked up the advantage, 2-1 after Tom Reilly saved Guilherme Fanck's attempt.
With the victory, Cumberland earns the conference's automatic berth into the NAIA National Tournament, with the field being announced at 11 a.m. EST on Monday, Nov. 17 via www.NAIANetwork.com. Campbellsville is expected to get an at-large bid after being ranked No. 7 this past week. The top 31 teams and the host advance to the NAIA Playoffs.
Campbellsville played a man down the final 53-plus minutes of regulation and also both overtime periods. Daniel Nimmo picked up two yellow cards in the first half and sat the rest of the game.
The Tigers had chance after chance in the final 15 minutes and seemed to convert with 10:05 on the clock. Tied 1-1, Ryan Foster found a seem behind the defense and Marcelo Petit back-heeled a beautiful pass for Foster's score. After the play and celebration, officials convened and decided that Foster was offsides to erase the Tigers go-ahead goal.
Cumberland also had a goal nullified with a controversial offside call in the final 10 minutes but were able to prevail at the end.
Campbellsville took the early advantage in the 18th minute with a goal by Nimmo. Gabriel DeFreitas delivered a free kick into the box and Nimmo scored his third goal of the season.
Cumberland was able to answer in the 30th minute, as Valentine Murombo netter just his second goal.
Both overtime periods were played neck-and-neck. Cumberland had opportunities and Campbellsville did as well but neither were able to capitalize.
Campbellsville finished with 12 shots and eight on goal. Cumberland had 15 shots and six on goal. Gonzalo Sapena notched five save in goal for CU and Strutz finished with seven for Cumberland.
Penalty Kicks:
Marcelo Petit scored to put CU ahead, 1-0
Brian McNamara scores, tied, 1-1
Guilherme Fanck's shot is saved by Bennet Strutz, 1-1
Tom Reilly scores, pushes Cumberland ahead with advantage, 2-1.
Yona Lobulu scores, ties game, 2-2
Sondra Risa scores, pushes Cumberland ahead with advantage, 3-2
Alex Ryan scores, ties game, 3-3
Marty Owens scores, pushes Cumberland ahead with advantage, 4-3
Ross Lindsay scores, CU leads 4-4
Josh Armstrong scores, Cumberland wins in PKs 5-4.
