The Golden Grizzlies’ men’s soccer team would go to overtime with the Milwaukee Panthers and win a hard-fought game by  a score of 4-3 on Saturday night. 

The weather played a huge part in the game,, with multiple players struggling to keep their footing on the wet pitch. Despite this, the Panthers increased their aggression coming out of the gate with a few shots on goal early on. 

The aggression would spread around the pitch after an apparent injury to Golden Grizzlies’ player Owen Smith, when both Coach Eric Pogue and player Dylan Borczak would receive yellow cards while on the sidelines after seemingly advocating and checking on the behalf of the injured Smith. 

After a substitute replaced Smith, the game would get back underway with some beautiful saves from Golden Grizzlies’ goalie Finn Jurak. As the game progressed, it became apparent that the referees intended on letting the boys play rough  with their lack of calls on what some would call over-aggressive plays by the Panthers. 

The two goalies for both teams would then get into a standoff of sorts, after trading amazing saves at both ends of the field with Jurak making a tough reachback save and the Panthers’ goalies going across his own body and momentum to stop a score. 

The Grizzlies would eventually break the monotony of the game by scoring the first of their points after a corner kick bounces off of the hand of the Panthers’ goalie and into the waiting feet of the Golden Grizzlies’ offense. After the shot found the back of the net, however, things would get dicey out on the pitch. 

Golden Grizzlies’ goalie Finn Jurak would get an immediate red card and be subsequently ejected after shoving an opposing player, an ejection that was unanimously disagreed with out on the field and in the crowd. This would leave the Grizzlies’ to rely on Alessio Carbone to guard their net, and guard the net he would. 

After the ejection, the Golden Grizzlies would fire back with an immediate goal to go up 2-0 over the Panthers. The goal would drop the energy out on the pitch for the Panthers to a dismal level, as they stared down the hole they would have to dig themselves out of. 

Finding life out of nowhere, the Panthers would score their first goal and start to mount their comeback. With the absence of Jurak and Carbone struggling early on after being thrust into the game, the Panthers would get extremely aggressive with their offense to try and tie the game up. 

Their efforts would give way to success, as they would tie the game up at 2 after a solid back and forth. This score would breathe life back into the Panthers, as they now stood a chance of winning the game. At least, it looked that way until the Golden Grizzlies would storm back and immediately take the lead back with a score after a corner kick sent the defense into disarray. 

Late in the game, as the Panthers started to get desperate, Carbone would anchor the defense with some amazing saves and keep the Grizzlies ahead until the Panthers overwhelm him and tie the game at 3 with five minutes left to go. 

As both teams vie for the win, Milwaukee would score a potential game-winning goal that would be waved off after a foul was called. Tensions would soon boil over on the pitch, after yet another aggressive Panthers’ tackle from behind would lead to a faceoff between players.

A final shot by the Golden Grizzlies would flare out wide as the game was sent into overtime, where the Golden Grizzlies would connect on an absolutely stunning goal through the goalie’s legs in the 94th minute to win the game and secure a bye to the Horizon League semi-finals. 

After locking up no less than a 2nd seed in the Horizon League with this win, the Golden Grizzlies will return to the pitch for their final regular season game against Northern Kentucky University on Nov. 3 in Highland Heights, Kentucky.