The Malone University men's soccer team recorded a 0-0 draw against rival Walsh on Tuesday night. The tie was good enough to enter a tiebreaker with Ohio Dominican and the Pioneers were able to secure the eighth and final spot in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference Tournament.
 
Malone will travel to nationally-ranked Lake Erie on Saturday in their first postseason match since 2012 when the Pioneers lost in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament Quarterfinals.  
 
Malone finishes their regular season with a record of 4-6-6 overall, 3-6-5 in G-MAC play. The Cavaliers end up a five seed in the conference tournament and finish with an overall record of 10-5-3 and 6-5-3 in conference play.
 
In the first half, the ball was on the Walsh offensive side of the field for most of the possession time. The Cavaliers outshot Malone 5-2 in the first 45 minutes of play.
 
Period two saw incredible saves and missed opportunities on both sides to net the go-ahead goal. Gary Canam had a pair of good looks but Pioneer keeper Alexandre Durand saved two of his shots in the 52nd and 57th minutes.
 
The Pioneers did everything but put the ball in the back of the net in the 71st minute. Justin Betts started a rally with a shot, followed by a kick from Nathan McFeaters, but it was not meant to be. Jake Martell went on the break in the 73rd minute, but Cavalier keeper Brett Ekperuoh made three saves to preserve the shutout effort.
 
The end of regulation time would see momentum swing one way and then the other very quickly. Corban James-Barrett missed a shot wide right and McFeaters narrowly missed a header too high that would have sent the Pioneers to the conference tournament without any doubt of a tiebreaker.
 
90 minutes was not enough and the teams went to overtime as fans were shivering, both of nerves and extreme coldness.
 
In the 98th minute, playoff hopes and dreams for the Pioneers were almost dashed when Steven Taylor put a free kick on goal and Durand had to go all the way to the crossbar to make a diving save.
 
The second overtime saw only one shot by Walsh and as the clock struck triple zeros for the final time, the Pioneers had done all they could do to gain postseason berth.
 
Ohio Dominican had fallen to Cedarville earlier in the evening 4-0, leaving the opportunity open for Malone to tie in order to advance to the conference tournament. When the dust settled, the Pioneers in fact had moved on via the tiebreaker and their season will continue.
 
Simon Eybert led the way for the Pioneers with three shot attempts. Jeff Kreinbrook and Nathan McFeaters each attempted two shots.
 
Evan Dekker, Gino Finelli, Nick Fry, Patrick Alvarez and Simon Eybert each played all 110 minutes to gain entry into the tournament.
 
Alexandre Durand gathered eight saves in the shutout.
 
As the bracket is finalized, Malone will be on the road this Saturday, November 9 at Lake Erie for a 7 pm kick-off.