MEN’S SOCCER

Senior Kevin Ndeti’s golden goal midway through the OT period lifted the HU men’s soccer team past the Goshen College Maple Leafs 3-2 under the lights Saturday night at the GC Soccer Complex.

Tonight marked Huntington’s second straight overtime win over the Maple Leafs. The match also wrapped up regular season play with the W securing Lawson and crew as one of the top seeds in the CL tournament.

In retrospect, the first 80 minutes of the contest were extremely uneventful compared to the final 15 minutes. The hosts grabbed a quick lead in the opening two minutes after which it was radio silence until Eric Ocock whipped in a corner that Zach Collins got his head on to bury it back netting at the 80:18 mark for a 1-1 stalemate.

Little would anyone suspect it was just the beginning of a scoring frenzy. Goshen countered three minutes later to reclaim the lead but not to be outdone, the guests when right back to work. This time it was James Lighton in the 87th minute who smashed a shot off the crossbar for the game’s second deadlock that remained until Ndeti’s heroics in the extra period.

The game-winner was Ndeti’s first goal in Forester green and white. As a team, HU enjoyed a slight 16-13 advantage in shots taken which included 12 on frame to GC’s eight. Goshen held a 7-5 edge in corner kicks.

Gabe Greenfield finished with six saves to snag the win in goal.

“Tonight was a fantastic team effort,” said Coach Russ Lawson. “Obviously it wasn’t the start we wanted but we stayed with it. From the massive contributions we got from guys coming off the bench to keeping our composure and then having that belief until the end – I’m proud of the boys.”

Third-seeded Huntington will host 6th-seeded IWU on Saturday in quarterfinal action of the Crossroads League Tournament.