BLOOMINGTON, Ill. - On Saturday, No. 6 Augustana College men's soccer (7-4-5, 2-3-3) visited the reigning CCIW Tournament champions, No. 3 Illinois Wesleyan University (9-3-4, 5-1-2), for their first CCIW Tournament game in 16 years. Augie tied the game with less than 20 minutes remaining and, after 20 minutes of scoreless overtime soccer, defeated IWU 3-0 in penalty kicks to secure Augustana's first playoff win since 2006.
Inside the box score
- Silas Wise scored the game-tying goal that eventually sent the game into extra time.
- Matt Donaghey, Fer Cuahquentzi, and Diego San Pedro scored penalty kicks to seal the win.
- Coming in in relief, Jahir Anaya made seven saves, including two in the penalty kicks.
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How it happened
First half
Illinois Wesleyan came out with a pair of shots in the opening ten minutes, but Augie's starting goalie, Elias Banke, saved the first before the second was blocked. Banke would make another save before Augustana put up their first shot of the game at 22:49, when Wise's attempt missed high and to the left.
IWU had a golden scoring chance at 25:48 when a rebound from a blocked shot was put on net, but Banke stood tall once again. After another shot was saved by Banke, the Titans finally broke through at 33:36 with the game's opening goal. Right afterward, IWU came close to adding another score, but Augie came up with the team save to keep it a one-goal game.
Augie was kept on its back foot until the end of the half, picking up a block on another Titan shot before Banke saved the final shot attempt of the first 45 minutes at 40:10. As the teams headed for the locker rooms, IWU was on top 1-0.
Second half
Other than a few shots from Illinois Wesleyan that failed to reach the net, offense was hard to come by in the opening stretch of the second half. Augie got something going at 64:01 when Donaghey had a shot blocked, and Augustana finally challenged the IWU keeper five minutes later when he made his first save of the game. However, that save was quickly followed by Wise's game-tying goal at 70:13, setting the score at 1-1.
Illinois Wesleyan's first shot attempt after the Viking goalie switch came 72 minutes into the game, but Anaya showed no signs of nerves as he made the stop. After missing a pair of shots, IWU challenged Anaya again at 81:47, but the freshman for Augie made the save again. The Titans managed to put up a trio of shots in the final five minutes of regulation, but Augie's defense did a good job keeping the attempts away from their goalie. Once the buzzer rang, the scoreboard still read 1-1, sending the game to overtime.
Overtime one
The Titans maintained their pressure into overtime. Just 45 seconds into the period, they sent a shot over the net. They then came close to ending the Augie season, but Anaya impressed with back-to-back saves at 94:21 to keep the game rolling. Neither team generated a solid scoring chance through the closing half of overtime period one, meaning another 10 minutes of overtime was necessary.
Overtime two
Anaya was called upon again seven seconds into the second overtime frame, making yet another save to keep his squad's season alive. After two Titan shots failed to reach the cage, Anaya added another save to his total at 105:25. But Anaya was not done yet, as he answered the call on a shot with 20 seconds on the clock to keep the game even and force penalty kicks.
Penalty kicks
The Titans kicked first to start penalty kicks. On their first attempt, Anaya made a dive to the bottom right of the net to keep the ball out. Then came Donaghey as Augie's first shooter. Donaghey took care of business for the Vikings, sending the ball low right to put Augie up 1-0.
IWU's next shooter was unable to put it on net, leaving it up to Cuahquentzi to put Augie up by two. He did just that on his low left shot that sailed past the Titan keeper. In desperate need of a goal, Illinois Wesleyan's next shot-taker was unable to beat Anaya. Next up for Augustana was San Pedro, who beat the keeper low left to seal the 3-0 penalty kicks win for the Vikings as they prevailed over the reigning conference champions in dramatic fashion.
Augie's season now extends to at least Wednesday, Nov. 4. At 7 p.m., they will travel to Chicago to face No. 2 North Park in the CCIW Tournament semifinals.
