COLUMBIA, Ky. -- Indiana Wesleyan University and No. 8-seed Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) played to a 2-2 tie in a wild match during the NAIA Men’s Soccer National Championship Opening Round in Columbia, Kentucky. Indiana Wesleyan overcame a pair of deficits and will move to the final site and the Round of 16 as they eliminated Lindsey Wilson with a 4-2 win in PKs.

Game Vitals

• Score:  Indiana Wesleyan - 2   |   Lindsey Wilson - 2   (IWU advances on PKs 4-2)
• Records:  Indiana Wesleyan 15-5-1   |   Lindsey Wilson 14-5-2
• NAIA Top- 25 Rank:  Indiana Wesleyan - No. 23   |   Lindsey Wilson - No. 22
• NAIA Championship Seed:  Lindsey Wilson - No. 8   |   Indiana Wesleyan - Not seeded  
• Location:   Walter S. Reuling Stadium   |   Lindsey Wilson College   |   Columbia, Kentucky 
• Brief:  Indiana Wesleyan University and No. 8-seed Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) played to a 2-2 tie in a wild match during the NAIA Men’s Soccer National Championship Opening Round in Columbia, Kentucky. Indiana Wesleyan overcame a pair of deficits and will move to the final site and the Round of 16 as they eliminated Lindsey Wilson with a 4-2 win in PKs.

What Went Down

• Franco Roman put Lindsey Wilson in the lead with the first goal of the match in the 39th minute. Lindsey Wilson took that 1-0 lead into halftime.
• Evan Young (JR/Colorado Springs, Colo.) tied the game 1-1 in the 67th minute for Indiana Wesleyan. Nick Bannister (FR/Colorado Springs, Colo.) served a ball into the 18-yard box which was misplayed by a LWC defender. Evan Young collects the ball and scores.
• Ten minutes later Franco Roman scored his second goal for the Blue Raiders in the 78th minute. LWC leads 2-1 late.
• Indiana Wesleyan finds the equalizer for the second time in the 81st minute when Keaton Albert (SR/Park City, Ill.) launches a shot from outside the 18-yard box.
• The match heads to overtime tied 2-2.
• Neither team scored in the two 10-minute overtime periods. The match ended in a tie and a penalty kick shootout would determine which team advanced to the next round.
• Corey Lopez (SR/Warsaw, Ind.), Samuel Conti (FR/Fredonia, NY), Evan Young, and Keaton Albert were all successful in their PKs.
• Josh Goepper (SR/Shelby Township, Mich.) made saves on Anthony Tshimpi in the second round and on Aleksi Pahkasalo in the fourth round.
• Keaton Albert connected on his attempt in the fourth round to secure the victory.

Coaches Corner

• “This is an absolute statement of a win for our program. Lindsey Wilson is such a good team and have so much quality. We knew we’d have to be comfortable not having the ball for spells and the guys were really committed. We also knew we must try to pass with them and match their possession and I thought we did that really well. We came from behind twice and were at another level in our penalties. Josh Goepper was huge in the shootout obviously. What an amazing game. We are blessed and don’t plan on stopping.”  -- IWU head coach Luke Sanford

Extra! Extra!

• Indiana Wesleyan is now 1-1-2 all-time in the NAIA National Championship. In 2013, Lindsey Wilson scored with 2 minutes remaining to beat Indiana Wesleyan 2-1 in the NAIA Round of 16.
• The tie is the first for Indiana Wesleyan since it tied Vanguard 0-0 in the Opening Round last season. Vanguard advanced on PKs.

Next Time Out

• Indiana Wesleyan and Southeastern (Fla.) meet in the NAIA National Championship Round of 16 on Monday, November 30 in Delray Beach, Florida. Southeastern, unseeded like Indiana Wesleyan, upset No. 9-seed Cumberland (Tenn.) 1-0 in double overtime today.