Minneapolis, MN - The Polars Men's Soccer team faced off with the North Central Rams Wednesday evening for the NCCAA DII North Region Final and took home the win in dramatic fashion in penalty kicks.
The first half saw Crown lead in shots with 11 compared to 3 shots from the Rams. The Polars also held the edge in corner kicks in the first half. Despite leading in two major statistical categories North Central notched the first goal of the match in the waning seconds to take a 1-0 Rams lead going into the break. Crown found their answer right out iof the gate with a goal from
Joaquin Silva for his sixth goal of the season.
The score stayed at 1-1 for the rest of the second half and after two overtime periods everything came down to penalty kicks. The Polars were a perfect five for five as
Luca Kaltenbach,
Isaac Schulz,
Serni Batalla,
Jose Lovera, and
Ashton Hosler all knocked them in. A single miss from North Central on the second opportunity left the door open and Crown finished on top. The Polars out shot the Rams 27 to 7 in the contest.
The Polars will now head to the NCCAA DII National Championship Tournament in Kissimmee, Florida with two pool play games to determine who makes it to the final. Crown will face off with Kansas Christian at 4:30pm (CST) on Wednesday, November 15th and will take on Boyce College at 6:30pm (CST) on Thursday, November 16th.