Roadrunners Advance To Semifinals on PK's - Dalton State College Athletics

DALTON, Ga. - It will go down in the books as a tie, but #20 Dalton State collected a huge win, defeating Martin Methodist 6-5 on penalty kicks to advance to the semifinals of the Southern States Athletic Conference tournament in Montgomery, Ala. on Wednesday.

THE FIRST HALF
The #20 Roadrunners got off to a sluggish start, giving up a goal to the Red Hawks in the first five minutes when Daniel Weinhandl collected a rebound off a missed shot and booted it past Samuel Fraire for the 1-0 lead.

Martin Methodist would continue to press and capitalize on the early advantage. Capitalize they would as Alex Kleczkowski collected a pass from Jonas Arcalean and found the nylon for a quick 2-0 Red Hawk lead.

The Dalton State D would fight the rest of the half to gain momentum, but Martin Methodist continued to press hard. The defense would right the ship and the offense would get going late in the period. Two great Roadrunner looks would be stopped by Red Hawk goalkeeper Naoya Fugono as Martin Methodist took a 2-0 lead into the break.

THE SECOND HALF
Dalton State would waste no time in attacking the Red Hawk defense after the break. In the 38' Santiago Moore lined up a corner kick that would find its mark, the head of Jose Villalobos. Villalobos would knock it past Fugono to cut the deficit to 2-1.

The Roadrunners would play fast in the second half, getting many opportunities to score but were turned back at every turn. The equalizer would come in the 87'. With time winding down, Jorge Hurtado took a shot from right outside the box and convert to tie the match at 2-2. The score would hold true as the match headed for overtime.

OVERTIME
Both overtime periods would belong to Dalton State. They would control the ball in their own half almost exclusively during both periods. The scoring chances would be close, but the Roadrunners just could not kick it home. In order for a team to move on to Montgomery and the semifinals, penalty kicks would have to decide the outcome.

PENALTY KICKS
Each team would go five-for-five on their opening kicks. The turning point came on the Red Hawks sixth kicker, Lewis Hallett. Hallett would be stoned by Fraire opening the door for the Roadrunners. Junior Isael Gutierrez stepped up and booted it past Fugono to give Dalton State the 6-5 advantage and advance them to the semifinals.

THE REST OF THE STORY
Dalton State not sits at 12-3-2 overall on the season and advances to the semifinals of the SSAC tournament in Montgomery, Ala., while Martin Methodist ends their season at 10-6-1. Santiago Moore racked up two more assist to bring his season total to 18. Jorge Hurtado added his sixth goal of the season, while Jose Villalobos netted his third.

UP NEXT
The #3-seeded Roadrunners will play 2-seed Mobile (Ala.) on Wednesday, November 8, at Emory Folmar YMCA in Montgomery, Ala. Kickoff is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. (CST).

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