BILLINGS, Mont. - Facing a near-insurmountable 3-1 deficit late in the second half, the University of Mary Men's Soccer team pulled out all the stops to record a draw in the final match of the season against Montana State University-Billings.
 
The Marauders (3-13-2, 2-11-1 GNAC) recorded the first goal of the match but quickly surrendered the lead by the opening moments of the second half as the Yellowjackets (8-6-4, 6-5-3 GNAC). U-Mary evened the score in the late moments of the half and fought MSU-Billings to a draw after two scoreless overtimes at 3-3.
 
Both teams traded shots early in the first half with the only shot on goal coming from Jonathan Sellars in the ninth minute that Tom Lohmann had to save. The Marauders broke through first in the 19th minute when Christoffer Nogueira was sent to take the corner kick and found the magic touch once again as Sellars headed the attempt home into the far corner past the keeper for a 1-0 U-Mary lead.
 
Tensions ran high between both teams as the Marauders were issued a caution in the 22nd minute despite both squads committing an even amount of fouls. U-Mary was not intimidated, however, as Ludvig Rhodin made a save in the 28th minute to keep MSU-Billings scoreless.
 
The clean sheet didn't last long after that as Thiago Novis headed home a cross from Julian Toenges in the 30th minute to set the score at 1-1 midway through the half. U-Mary kept the pressure up on the Yellowjackets as James Liddiard fired off two shots on goal before the break, but Lohmann put a stop to both of them to keep the score knotted at halftime.
 
MSU-Billings wasted little time laying the heat back on the Marauders as Novis recorded his second goal of the match in the 47th minute off another cross from Toenges and U-Mary suddenly faced a lead-turned-deficit to their travel partners. Sellars made took another header shot attempt in an effort to even the score in the 51st minute, but Lohmann wouldn't be fooled again as he negated the shot with another save.
 
The Yellowjackets took another three shots on goal by the 70th minute and finally broke through in the 72nd after Jacob Richter took advantage of a defensive miscue to intercept a back pass and notched the goal on an undefended net to put U-Mary in a 3-1 hole.
 
After a caution was issued seconds after the third goal, the Marauders battened down the hatches and started chipping away at the lead in the 74th minute after Liddiard took a through pass from Guilherme Zogbi and beat Lohmann one-on-one to cut the Yellowjackets' lead down to 3-2.
 
Frustration stared to set in for U-Mary as they were issued another caution in the 84th minute before Nogueira was shown the way to the locker room merely seconds later as he was issued an ejection that put the Marauders in the difficult spot without one of their top offensive weapons. The missing link didn't slow the attack as Alex Boyes headed a pass into the six-yard box and Liddiard provided the finishing touches to notch the equalizer in the 88th minute in stunning fashion.
 
Liddiard took another shot before the end of the half in an effort to give U-Mary the win, but his attempt sailed wide of the goal and the Marauders were faced with the tough task of being outnumbered while going into overtime.
 
Both teams managed to fire off a few shots in the first overtime frame, but only Zogbi's came on target with Lohmann making the save to keep the score at 3-3 and force a second overtime period. U-Mary's defense kept a tight grip on the Yellowjackets offense in the second overtime period with MSU-Billings managing only one shot in the frame that ended up off target. The Marauders had two corner kick attempts in the final 10 minutes, but couldn't connect and the score of 3-3 ended up being final after 110 minutes of action.
 
As a team, U-Mary managed 20 shots in the match with 11 coming on goal and had a decided advantage in corner kicks as they took 13 to MSU-Billings' lone attempt.
 
Rhodin ended up with four saves in total in the match, but the Marauders' defense ensured he wouldn't have to make one in either overtime period despite the Yellowjackets taking four attempts total.
 
The Marauders season is officially complete with only the regional tournaments and NCAA Championships remaining on the schedule.
 
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