WAVERLY, Iowa – Nebraska Wesleyan and Wartburg College needed a penalty kick shootout to decide the winner of the opening round of the American Rivers Men's Soccer Tournament and in the end, the Knights converted four attempts compared to only two for the Prairie Wolves as Wartburg advances to the A-R-C Tournament with the victory on Saturday (Oct. 27) in Waverly, Iowa.
 
The Knights will face the No. 2 seed Luther College on Wednesday night while the Prairie Wolves 2018 season comes to a close in heartbreak fashion.
 
Unlike the first meeting between the two squads that had a final score of 5-4, neither team was able to score in regulation on Saturday forcing the match into overtime.  After two ten minute overtime periods the score remained 0-0 sending the match to a shootout.
 
Wartburg went first in the shootout and Michael Hegelheimer converted his try.  NWU sent Jacob Dougherty up first and he responded to match the Knights as both teams made their first attempts.  Ben Johnson made his attempt for Wartburg, but Logan Lawrence was denied by goalkeeper Gunnar Lenzen on his try giving Wartburg the advantage.
 
Kevin Duque hit his penalty kick for the Knights followed by a successful attempt from Alex Day for the Prairie Wolves making it 3-2 with two tries left.  Jack Palen hit the back of the net on the Knights fourth try meaning NWU had to convert to keep the match going.  Ben Schulz had his penalty kick stopped by Lenzen and the Knights team rushed the field in jubilation.
 
NWU went toe-to-toe with the higher seeded Wartburg team.  Samuel Lesoing recorded 11 saves in goal for the Prairie Wolves and didn't allow a goal in 110 minutes.
 
For the Prairie Wolves they finish the 2018 season with a 8-8-1 overall record under first year head coach Brandon Bonilla.