TERRE HAUTE, Ind. -- The Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology men's soccer team advanced to the NCAA Division III Tournament with a 5-4 penalty kick victory after a 1-1 draw against Hanover College on Saturday afternoon in the 2022 Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference Tournament Championship Game.
The Hanover Panthers got the scoring started early on a penalty kick in the 16th minute of action. After a foul in the back, Joao Domenici put the PK in the back of the net for a 1-0 lead.
In the second half, the Fightin' Engineers got even after a handball in the box.
Takezo Kelly hammered home a PK in the 78th minute to tie the game at one goal a piece.
Following two scoreless overtime periods, the two teams advanced to a best-of-five penalty kick shootout to determine the 2022 HCAC Champion and which team would receive the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. In the full game, the Fightin' Engineers outshot the Panthers 31-13 with a 17-6 edge in shots on goal.
Michael Trinh made five saves in goal, and the Hanover keeper, Luciano Salemi, made 16 saves.
In the penalty shootout,
Takezo Kelly,
Luke Dawdy, and
AJ Yilmaz all scored their kick to make the shootout tied 3-3 after three kicks.
In the fourth round of kicks,
Tyler Eldridge scored, and
John Biederstedt came up with a big save diving to his left to give Rose-Hulman a 4-3 lead.
After a Fightin' Engineer miss, Hanover tied the shootout at 4-4.
Jackson Seida slotted home the sixth kick, and the final Hanover shot went wide to give Rose-Hulman a 5-4 win in the penalty shootout.
In addition to winning the championship, the Fightin' Engineers had four players named to the HCAC All-Tournament team.
Caleb Urban,
Zach Buvalic, and
AJ Yilmaz were named to the all-Tournament team, and
Takezo Kelly was named the 2022 HCAC Tournament MVP following his game-tying penalty kick in the 78th minute and penalty kick make in the shootout.
Rose-Hulman has reached the NCAA Division III Tournament for the sixth time in program history. The Fightin' Engineers made previous NCAA appearances in 2008, 2011, 2013, 2014, and 2015.
Rose-Hulman (13-1-4) will find out their destination in the NCAA Tournament during the selection show at 1:30 PM on NCAA.com. The Fightin' Engineers lone loss came back in the final non-conference game against Ohio Northern, and they are 10-0-1 since that loss.
