SPRING ARBOR, Mich. – Heading to penalty kicks deadlocked 0-0, the Spring Arbor University men's soccer team converted all five of its penalty kick attempts, the final by Jacob Crull, to advance 5-3 over Huntington University in the Crossroads League Tournament Semifinals Saturday.

THE BASICS

FINAL SCORE: #21 Spring Arbor 0, Huntington 0 – SAU advances on PKs 5-3

LOCATION: Cougar Soccer Complex | Spring Arbor, Mich.

RECORDS: Spring Arbor 16-3-1, Huntington 10-4-5

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The two teams battled through a cold rain, sometimes very heavy, the entire match.
• Spring Arbor had an opportunity to gain a big advantage early on after drawing a foul inside the box in the 18th minute. However, on the ensuing penalty kick, Morris Kamara's attempt bounced off the post and wide.
• After a scoreless 90 minutes, the two teams went into overtime – the first time of the season for the Cougars.
• Neither side was able to find the back of the net in the two 10-minute overtime sessions to send the teams to penalty kicks.
• Alex Sokalski calmly converted the first PK while Isiah Handspike came up huge with a save on Huntington's first attempt.
• Baba Valdmanis and Lewis Jones converted their attempts, and then Kamara stepped up to the spot for the second time of the day, this time burying his shot.
• Crull then booked SAU's trip to the tournament finals.
• Spring Arbor finished the afternoon outshooting HU 17-10 while also holding a 9-4 edge in corner kicks.
• Handspike made four saves in the match, along with the most important one of the afternoon in the shootout.

BEYOND THE BOXSCORE

• Spring Arbor advances to the league's tournament final for the second straight year.
• The match marked the first time this season SAU was held scoreless.
• Spring Arbor's seven-match winning streak against Huntington was snapped.

QUOTES FROM HEAD COACH NATHAN MILLER

• "We have to give Huntington a ton of credit for how well they defended and battled. We created a ton today but just couldn't get it over the line, and that's just soccer sometimes. It was the first time we have been shut out this season."
• "I was really proud of our guys' mental toughness for staying focused and staying in the moment. The downpour, the delay, all of those things favored our opponent but we just controlled what we could control."
• "In The first half we had a lot of quality just couldn't finish the chances we normally do. But the end of this match was all about mental toughness and belief."
• "We have an important week to prepare for the final!"

UP NEXT

Top-seeded Spring Arbor will host the winner of the Goshen College and Grace College match in the Crossroads League Tournament Championship next Saturday, Nov. 11 at 5 p.m. The winner will receive the league's automatic bid to the 2017 NAIA Men's Soccer National Championship.

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