Box Score EDWARSVILLE, Ill. – After 110 minutes of scoreless soccer, SIUE men's soccer advances to the Missouri Valley Conference Championship match on penalty kicks.
"I can't say enough about Loyola and their coaching staff," said SIUE men's soccer Head Coach Mario Sanchez. "They are the best team we've played all year. Not just in conference, the whole year. We knew going into this that it would be a tight game."
The match featured two of the best goalkeepers in the country in SIUE's Kyle Dal Santo and Loyola's Tim Dobrowolski.
The first half of play was dominated by SIUE offensively, tallying eight shots to Loyola's two. During the second half, Loyola dominated the offensive end with six corner kicks. Despite the opportunities for the Ramblers, Dal Santo was able to punch the ball out of the box to save the game several times for the Cougars.
"Defense wins championships," said Sanchez. "It's always been a strength of ours. It starts with our forwards all the way through our goalkeeper. It's a collective effort and it takes a lot of work from everyone."
The intensity of the game peaked during the 86th minute of play, when Loyola's Connor Stevenson received his second yellow card of the game and was eliminated from play, forcing the Ramblers to play with a man down for both overtime periods.
Despite the advantage and breakaway attempts from Jabari Danzy, Mohamed Awad and Ivan Gutierrez, the Ramblers defense stayed true and denied the Cougars a goal for the rest of play, forcing penalty kicks.
The first three penalty kicks from Keegan McHugh, Garet Christianson and Justin Bilyeu hit their mark in the far upper corner of the net. Each of the first three Ramblers hit their target as well, tying the score at 3-3.
Brody Kraussel for Loyola recorded the first miss of the series, missing high over the net. Mathias Ebbesen matched his shot, leaving the score tied.
"You work on it (penalty kicks) in practice but you can never replicate what it's going to be like in a game," said Sanchez.
Fabian Lifka for the Ramblers missed high, leaving the game riding on Austin Ledbetter's shoulders.
Ledbetter netted the game-winning penalty kick straight down the middle of the net, sending the Cougars to their second consecutive MVC Championship match.
"I'm glad I could put the team on my back and do what I do best," said Ledbetter. "I knew I was going straight down the middle the whole way. The walk is nervous but when I put the ball down, I knew where I was going and I wasn't nervous."
The championship match takes place Sunday at Korte Stadium. SIUE will face Drake at 1 p.m.
"They guys should enjoy tonight and be proud of what they've done," said Sanchez. "We know each other well so there are not any secrets. Sunday will be about the team that executes and sticks to their game plan. At the end of the day, I was proud of how we played the game."
