JEFFERSONVILLE, Ind. — It took No. 17 Maryville around 81 minutes to erase the lead of the No. 12 Bellarmine University men's soccer team.
It took less than a minute for the Knights to get it right back.
On Friday at the Woehrle Athletic Complex, junior midfielder
Collin Rose scored in the 90th minute, striking almost immediately after the third-seeded Saints knotted up a Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament semifinal as the second-seeded Knights pulled off a heart-stopping 2-1 victory.
Senior midfielder
Gilio Aviles notched the first goal for Bellarmine (15-0-4), which will meet top-seeded McKendree at 3 p.m. (ET) Sunday in the GLVC Tournament finals. Senior forward
Tomas Bernedo tallied two assists and junior midfielder
Micah Linscott had a helper as the Knights advanced to the title game for the second straight year.
Friday's contest against Maryville (15-3-2) represented a rematch of last year's finals. That match ended in a 2-2 tie, but the Saints won the title via victory in a penalty kick shootout.
Bellarmine exacted revenge in the latest edition of the GLVC Tournament. Starting out, the Knights picked up right where they left off in an 8-2 quarterfinal thrashing of Lindenwood. In the eighth minute, Aviles scored his fifth goal of the season after finishing a combination of passes from Linscott and Bernedo.
Bellarmine took the 1-0 lead into halftime and maintained it for nearly the entire second half. However, with a little under two minutes remaining, Maryville knotted it up at 1-1 as Helmut Florencia headed the ball forward and Cedric Sengl won a dash for the ball before sinking the tying goal.
Bellarmine could have understandably been shell-shocked after losing the lead in the 89th minute, but instead the Knights went into full attack mode. Junior defender
Jonas Skulstad triggered a scoring opportunity by making a long run down the left side. Bernedo won a header about 8 yards in front of the goal, and Rose rammed it off a hop with his head inside the left post from the 6. Rose's third goal of the season came 53 seconds after Maryville's score.
For the most part, as you'd expect from the nationally ranked squads, there wasn't much give in either defense. The Knights finished with a modest 11-8 advantage in shots, including 4-1 on goal. The teams combined for a single corner kick, taken by Maryville.
Bellarmine extended its unbeaten streak to 28 dating to last season.
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