Boxscore
OMAHA, Neb. -- It's not often that the number of goals scored by a player surpass his minutes played. But it happened here in dramatic fashion Wednesday for University of Evansville senior Ben Harner. He didn't play a single minute in the 110 that took place through overtime, but then scored the game-winning penalty kick to send the Aces past Missouri State and into Friday's semifinal round of the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Men's Soccer Tournament.
The official score Wednesday was 2-2 between Evansville and Missouri State, but it's UE that moves on to the semifinal round against 10-1-5 Creighton, the nation's seventh ranked team. Friday's match takes place on Creighton's home field at 5:00 CST, and will be broadcast by WUEV (91.5 FM) with Mark Kennedy and Bart McCune calling the action.
Following a 2-2 score in regulation play and two 10-minute overtimes, the penalty kick session took over. The best-of-five first session included three goals and two misses by each team, with Kieran Purcell, Cory Elenio and Dan Gibson scoring for the Aces. With the score tied at 3-2 after the best-of-five session, the match went to single penalty kicks. Harner stepped up first and scored for the Aces past diving Missouri State goalkeeper Lance Parker. Ryan Hennessey of Missouri State then kicked his PK off the cross bar against UE goalkeeper Alec Dufty, and the Aces were finally able to celebrate their first MVC tournament quarterfinal victory since 1999.
"We planned this like a business trip," said Coach Mike Jacobs afterward. "We told them to pack heavy because we plan to be here through Sunday. That's still how we're approaching it. It was great to celebrate the win tonight, but I think our guys will focus right away to get ready for the match against Creighton on Friday."
Missouri scored early and late Wednesday, and Evansville scored seven minutes apart in the 2-2 match leading up to penalty kicks. Johannes Demarzi scored 6:28 into the match before Evansville's Dan Gibson scored on a penalty kick at 21:20 to tie it. At 28:25, Mike Luttrull scored on a header with Kieran Purcell getting the assist. Evansville stayed in front until 2:06 remained in regulation. That's when Will Ziegahn kept the Bears alive with a goal at 87:54 to send it into overtime--and eventually the penalty kick session.
Bradley, the number one seed, will play the winner of tonight's Drake-Eastern Illinois match in Friday's other semifinal match. The championship match is Sunday at 1:05 CST, and will be televised live by Fox Sports Net.
