MADISON, WISC. - A sudden death penalty kick bounds off the crossbar Wednesday at historic Breese Stevens Field, allowing the Madison College men's soccer team to win an epic semifinal match with Rock Valley College and advance to the Region IV Division III Championship for the first time in program history. The 9th-ranked and top-seeded WolfPack earned a 6-5 win on penalty kicks after ending regulation and two overtimes tied at two with the Golden Eagles.

Madison College (14-1-2) controlled the match through the first and second overtimes, attempting four more shots (5-1) than Rock Valley College (9-7-1), but were unable to cash in. Then came the first round of penalty kicks:

Ryan Henry. Good.

Toby Andrews. Good.

Jake Andrews. Good.

Christian Munoz. Good.

Bobby Beaudet. Good.

Unfortunately, the Golden Eagles also went 5-for-5 despite goaltender Juan Martinez getting a hand on several of the attempts. Moving to sudden death penalty kicks, freshman Zach Blair's name was called to take the next kick. The McFarland, Wisconsin, native, who had scored just one goal all season, stepped up and drilled yet another perfect shot into the lower left corner, just beyond the reach of the RVC 'keeper. With the game on the line, Ryen Smith's attempt to keep the Golden Eagles season alive missed. Madison College was moving on.





Rock Valley, whom the WolfPack outscored 10-2 in a pair of regular season wins, tallied the game's first score with a 17th minute goal against Martinez. But Madison College evened the score at one in the 40th minute when Blair set up Bachirou Lo for his tenth of the year.

Just over ten minutes into the second half the WolfPack lost freshman and all-region midfielder Jose Barron to a red card and were forced to play a man down. However, the 'Pack seized their first lead of the day when all-region midfielder Jake Andrews converted a pass from James Pretto in the 67th minute for his 14th goal of the season and a 2-1 advantage. It held up until the match was 82 minutes old when RVC found the back of the net for the equalizer.

Goalkeeper Juan Martinez, another all-region selection, finished with two saves, facing just four official shots on goal and seeing eight shots overall thanks to an outstanding effort by the Madison College defense. The home team attempted 19 total shots with 11 on goal.

Madison College has not played in a region championship since defeating Milwaukee Area Technical College 3-1 to claim the Region XIII title in 2008, the final year the WolfPack competed in that region.

The 2016 NJCAA Region IV Division III Championship will be played Saturday, October 22 at Warner Park #1 on Madison's north side. Madison College will host tenth-ranked and second-seeded Harper College (14-2-1), who defeated Triton College 2-1 to advance. The WolfPack went 1-0-1 against the Hawks in the regular season, winning 3-2 at home in late August and earning a 0-0 draw on the road in late September. Harper owns a 10-6-1 advantage in the all-time series. Kick off is set for 12:00 p.m., with the winner advancing - and hosting - the NJCAA District C Tournament one week later.



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