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Men's soccer ties with Cavaliers after double overtime

Western men’s soccer follows up a two-loss week with a 3-3, double-overtime tie in a card-heavy contest against Concordia University.

“It’s a hard tie, but a tie’s a tie so we just keep moving forward to Saturday,” senior midfielder Conner Pichette said.

The match started with the ball on the back line for the Vikings, eventually ending up in the back of the net for an early 1-0 lead for Concordia just three minutes into play.

Senior defender Jeremy Wentzel netted the tying goal off of a textbook flick of the ball, via the chest of Pichette.

Nine minutes later, senior defender Sawyer Preston found senior forward Leonard Kusina for Kusina’s first goal of the season.

“Once we got into rhythm, then we gained our momentum, we were able to maintain the pace of the game and we were able to capitalize with two goals,” Kusina said.

Kusina nearly found himself with a second goal six minutes before halftime, but was called for a hand ball after he put it into the back of the net.

Vikings scoring continued in the second half when junior forward Chad Radulovich also scored his first goal of the season, with an assist from freshman forward Jose Castillo.

Things got interesting when Concordia scored its second goal of the night, and eventually the equalizer with approximately 11 minutes left in the match.

The tying goal was scored when the officials seemed to call a free kick in favor of the Vikings. However, miscommunication between Viking players, coaches and the referees ultimately led to the free kick being intercepted by Concordia’s Matt Paine who walked into the net for his second goal of the match.

“We didn’t get any help from the officials, but I guess that’s the game of soccer,” Kusina said. “You’re not going to get every call.”

The second half with nine yellow cards and three red cards. As a result, Western will be without starting junior keeper Tyler Visten and starting forward Brady Ulen in their next game.

This tie puts the Vikings at 3-4-3 overall, and 1-3-2 in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference play for the year.

Western will take on Northwest Nazarene University at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 10, at Harrington Field.

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Kurtis Pederson slide tackles a Concordia player, Thursday, Oct. 8, at Robert S. Harrington Field.// Photo by Caleb Galbreath

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