MARION, Ind. -- Wildcat Field was the site of a wild finish Saturday night as Indiana Wesleyan University men’s soccer pulled out a 3-1 victory over Grace (Ind.) in the Crossroads League opener for both teams.

Down a man most of the second half, Evan Young (SO/Colorado Springs, Colo.) played hero with two goals in the final five minutes to break a 1-1 tie. The pair of goals left the boisterous crowd chanting his name in celebration.

“I give all the credit to our guys,” said IWU head coach Mark Castro. “We were down a player in a 1-1 game. Being able to finish the game 3-1 is tremendous. And this is a message to anyone who comes watch Indiana Wesleyan men’s soccer. Don’t leave until the game is over because you might miss a bunch of goals.”

Dylan Bronkema (SR/Rockford, Mich.) collected his second yellow card of the contest just three minutes into the second half. The yellow card was given as the foul came on a fast-break opportunity for the Lancers. Being a man down, Castro was forced to make changes the rest of the way. The biggest of the moves was sending forward Tyrone Martin (SR/Indianapolis, Ind.) to the back line to solidify the defensive effort.

“This is something that we haven’t been a part of in a game this year, as far as playing a man down,” continued Castro. “I thought the adjustments we made helped us get through the big offensive push that Grace was going to build being up a player.”

Indiana Wesleyan managed the adjustments very well as IWU and Grace each managed to take six shots in the second half. Indiana Wesleyan put three shots on goal to just two for Grace.

In the 85th minute, Martin was moved back up front and the decision paid immediate dividends for the Wildcats. Martin gained advantage of the ball and broke through two Lancer defenders. His shot to the far post hit the post as he fell to the ground. The ball rebounded back to Martin who flipped the ball back to the far post where Evan Young drilled the ball into the back of the net.

“We moved Tyrone up front at the right time,” laughed Castro. “Pretty quickly he plays a ball in and gets the assist. That was tremendous.”

Just over two minutes later Indiana Wesleyan struck again. Keaton Albert (JR/Park City, Ill.) crossed a pass to Evan Young who easily scored his second goal of the night in the 88th minute for the 3-1 lead.

“It was good to see us go after it and get the third goal as well,” said Castro. “We didn’t totally sit back but we picked our moment and got bodies forward. Keaton played a quality ball into Evan and he just slammed it home.”

Indiana Wesleyan wins their sixth straight match to improve to 7-1-0 this season and 1-0-0 in Crossroads League play. Grace falls to 5-3-0 and 0-1-0 in the league.

Indiana Wesleyan next plays at 7 p.m. on Wednesday at Bethel (Ind.) in Mishawaka, Indiana.