DENVER – The Regis University men's soccer team needed more than regulation to determine its fate in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) Tournament Semifinal. However, the No. 2 seed Rangers prevailed and edged No. 6 seed Fort Lewis in the first overtime, 2-1, at Regis Match Pitch on Sunday.
 
"At halftime, I felt we had dominated going into the game, and we had no reason to panic," said coach Tony McCall. "We knew we were going to get our chances. I felt we dominated the game. If we hadn't won that game today, it would've been a travesty."
 
How It Happened: With the score knotted up at 1-1 in the first overtime, a throw-in by senior midfielder Porter Milner fell into a very congested box in Skyhawks territory, which led to a touch by senior midfielder Luca Kother and eventually found junior forward Parker Klein in front of the goal box seconds later.
 
With the ball in his possession, Klein launched it through the bottom-left corner and hit the netting of the goal box's bottom-right corner for the game-winning score midway through the 95th minute to end the match while advancing the Rangers to the RMAC Tournament Championship Final.
 
"I think I just ran onto the field to celebrate [after that happened]," McCall said about his initial reaction to the golden goal.
 
Regis's winning effort became a come-from-behind one in the 28th minute after redshirt junior midfielder Hakeem Rabiu broke away from the RU defense and passed to redshirt sophomore midfielder Loic Jean-Baptiste on his left, who then crossed the shot from the left to the right as it went in the goal box for Fort Lewis's 1-0 lead.
 
A timely 63rd-minute penalty just outside the goal box put the Rangers in prime position for a free kick, which sophomore midfielder Ben Shepherd took. Shepherd then drilled the ball, which sailed into the upper-right corner of the goal for the crucial 1-1 equalizer.
 
"They were defending for their lives," McCall said. "For Ben to step up and hit that shot was world-class."
 
Regis successfully endured the remaining 27 minutes of regulation and experienced a close call in the 83rd minute when junior forward Ryan Lee attempted a cross shot from the right, which ended up going wide-left and out of bounds.
 
RU dominated the shots tally, 24-11, while outdueling FLC in shots-on-goal, 9-3. The Rangers also did not allow a single shot-on-goal during both the second half and overtime.
 
Game Notes: Klein (1 G, 2 S, 2 SOG) hit his third game-winning goal of the season, which was also his second one against Fort Lewis, and had both his shot attempts on-goal. Shepherd (1 G, 6 S, 2 SOG) tied the game on his free kick and also had the game-high in shot attempts. Kother (1 A, 2 S, 1 SOG) was credited with an assist on his pass to Klein and also had a shot-on-goal. Milner (1 A) had the throw-in assist that led to the golden goal. Junior forward Jean Carre (3 S, 1 SOG), freshman forward Pascal von Matthey (2 S, 1 SOG), sophomore forward Kristian Hooker (2 S, 1 SOG) and junior defender Danilo Pekovic (1 S, 1 SOG) all contributed a shot on-target. Junior goalkeeper Tim Dolan (2 SV) earned his ninth win on the year.
 
Up Next for the Rangers: Regis advances to the RMAC Tournament Championship game while climbing to an 11-6-2 record overall.
 
RU will travel to No. 1 seed Colorado School of Mines (13-3-3), which routed No. 4 seed Dixie State (11-8-1), 6-0, in its RMAC Tournament Semifinal match, and will vie for an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament at Stermole Soccer Stadium on Friday at 6 p.m. The Orediggers of CSM are ranked No. 14 in NCAA Division II.
 
Prior to learning RU's opponent in the RMAC Tournament Championship final, McCall stated that the Rangers will take their rival seriously and also reflected on how far Regis has come this season.
 
"Whoever we play, they're going to be in the game," McCall said. "For us, I don't think people thought we would be here this year. But we're in the final, and we'll go and do what we can do."