MSC Championship | Photos | @LWCAthletics
COLUMBIA, Ky. -- Cumberland (Tenn.) fought to the finish line, but in the end Lindsey Wilson College had too many weapons as it held on for the 5-4 win in the semifinals of the Mid-South Conference Men's Soccer Championship on Wednesday night at Walter S. Reuling Stadium.
Lindsey Wilson led 2-0 late in the first half and had the advantage of an extra player once Bulldog Eric Clark picked up a red card in the 24th minute. However, with its back to the wall, Cumberland found a way to put a scare into the Blue Raiders.
It started with Luke Wilson in the 43rd minute, as his unassisted goal brought the Bulldogs within one at 2-1. When the second-half kicked off they stayed on the attack, scoring the first two goals in the 47th and 54th minutes to take a 3-2 lead on the No. 1-seed Blue Raiders.
With the thought of defeat becoming too clear of a reality, Lindsey Wilson kicked things into gear and opened up its offense to make use of its personnel advantage on the field.
Yazeed Davids started the comeback in the 60th minute by finding Lebogang Moloto in front of him in the penalty box for a close-range goal to knot the score at 3-3. Eleven minutes later, second-half substitution Philip Sandgren returned the lead to the Blue Raiders after receiving a similar pass from Davids to finish a goal on the far left side of the box.
Sandren's last goal came in the 83rd minute after he found himself in front of an unattended goal in thanks to a perfectly played through ball from Renan Serafim.
Cumberland, not looking to go down without a fight, made it a 5-4 game with Harry Mason's goal with just over a minute left in the game. Trying to find an equalizer proved tough down the stretch as the final minute saw the Bulldogs commit two fouls and pick up another red card by Nathan Gillespie.
In the end it was Serafim of Lindsey Wilson who would take the last shot in the contest as Lindsey Wilson survived a gutty performance to advance to Thursday's championship match.
The Blue Raiders were given an early lift in the first half with an eighth-minute goal by Davids and own goal touched in by Bulldog keeper Sully Shattuck about 15 minutes later as he tried to recover a shot off the crossbar.
Shattuck finished with four saves on the night, while Lindsey Wilson's Yuta Nomura had two saves, but also finished with a career-high four goals allowed.
Cumberland's four goals were the most allowed by Lindsey Wilson since the 2003 season when it lost to Embry-Riddle 4-2 in the NAIA National Championship.
The Blue Raiders posted a 15-9 shot advantage, including an 8-6 lead in shots on goal. Yazeed Davids paced the offense with four shots and a team-best three attempts on frame. Mason led the Bulldogs with three shots, including two on goal.
With the win, the two favorites are set to meet in Thursday's MSC Championship final as the Blue Raiders take on No. 1-seed Rio Grande (Ohio) at 7:30 p.m. CT in Columbia. The RedStorm were the only team to beat the Blue Raiders this season, winning 3-2 in double overtime on Sept. 29 in Ohio.
That win snapped Lindsey Wilson's 33-game winning streak and helped Rio Grande take the MSC Regular-Season title.
