Lance Berry buried a penalty kick with 3:03 remaining in double overtime to send the Wilmington University men's soccer team to a 2-1 victory over Dominican on Thursday afternoon at LaMoy Field, advancing the Wildcats to the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference Championship match.
With the win, the sixth seeded Wildcats (13-7) advance to face top seeded Philadelphia in the CACC Championship on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. The CACC Tournament is being hosted by Post University.
The Wildcats advanced in come-from-behind fashion as Dominican (13-4-1) scored the match's first goal in the 60th minute. Luis DelPezo scored 59:08 into the match, firing a shot form the top of the 18-yard box into the lower right hand corner, freezing Wilmington goalkeeper Frank Hall.
But the Wildcats pushed back, getting pressure into the Dominican half following the first goal. Pedro Moreira earned a foul just outside the 18-yard box off the right post. Samuel Naiwo dipped a the free kick ball over the wall and into the upper right corner for his eighth goal of the year, tying the match in the 77th minute.
Regulation ended, 1-1, as neither team could work up a shot in the final 13:58 of the match.
An uneventful first overtime came and went as neither team recorded a shot in the 10 minutes of play. But things picked up to start the final 10-minute overtime period.
Dominican earned a corner three minutes in, but the Wildcats were able to clear it away without any harm.
Josh Fawssett then had a golden opportunity to finish the contest when he toe poked a ball around the final defender in the 18-yard box and only needed to get past the keeper. But Charger netminder Steven Hegner denied Fawssett the goal on the 1-on-1 and play continued.
Once the ensuing corner was cleared by the Chargers, Bruno Montini was fouled while down on the ground in the penalty box, forcing a red-care out of the pocket of the referee and a penalty kick.
Berry slotted the shot home with 3:03 showing on the clock converting his fourth penalty kick opportunity in as many chances on the season.
The Wildcats narrowly outshot the Chargers, 12-11, while also getting more shots on goal, 6-5. Dominican earned more corners, 5-3, in the game, but the Wildcats defender all five cleanly.
Hall made four saves in goal for the Wildcats, three of which came in the first half. Hegner recorded four saves for the Chargers.