WINONA LAKE – The Grace College men’s soccer team’s run in the NCCAA Midwest Regional Tournament was cut short on Tuesday, as the Lancers fell in a penalty shootout to Oakland City. The match, played at an ice-cold Miller Field, was tied 1-1 through regulation and overtime. Grace (9-7-2) fell 3-1 in penalty kicks as three of the team’s attempts were saved. The first half belonged to Grace. The Lancers outshot the Mighty Oaks (8-5-3) by a 10-2 margin and netted the go-ahead goal in the 20th minute. Kyle Hamlin made a fantastic run along the left endline, weaving his way past two defenders before squaring the ball in front of the net to Ben Cahill for a point-blank finish at the 19:24 mark. Grace had the better of possession and dangerous opportunities throughout the opening period and went into halftime ahead 1-0. Oakland City made adjustments at halftime and became the offensive aggressor in the second half. The Mighty Oaks tallied 12 shots after halftime, eventually finding the game-tying goal in the 75th minute off the foot of Connor Jamieson. Both sides had chances to win the game in the final 15 minutes of regulation. The last and perhaps best chance came off a leaping header from Dylan Andersen, which had to be saved off the goal line by an Oakland City defender. The overtime sessions came and went without a goal being scored as the Lancers held a slight 3-2 advantage in shots over the two periods. The penalty shootout put Robbie Barnhill as Grace’s goalkeeper, and Barnhill came up with a crucial save on Oakland City’s third attempt. The Lancers’ kicks, however, were not good enough to fool the Mighty Oaks’ goalkeeper. Only Jon Sands’ attempt was successful, as the other three PKs from Grace were saved. The match ended tied 16-16 in shot attempts, and Oakland City had a slight 7-5 edge in corner kicks. Trent Smith and Cahill led all players with four shots, and Danilo Carnelos, Gift Sibukome and Josiah O’Deens each tallied two shots.
