JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (Nov. 10, 2024) – The ETSU men's soccer team continued its magical season by advancing past No. 3 seed Wofford in penalty kicks, 5-3, in the Southern Conference semifinal from a damp and chilly Summers-Taylor Stadium on Sunday. Following 110 minutes, the game was tied, 1-1.
 
A year after suffering a heart-breaking loss to Mercer at home in the semis, the Buccaneer returners got redemption 372 days later. The Blue & Gold capitalized on all five of their penalty kick attempts, while Wofford missed high on its fourth try en route to setting up SoCon all-freshman selection Ulysses Hendriks for the game-winner. The ETSU rookie stepped up and found the back of the net in the bottom left corner of the frame, sending the Buccaneer faithful into pandemonium.
 
The Bucs, led by first-year head coach Allen Vital, returned 12 players from last year's roster and brought in 16 newcomers after being named the leader of the program on Feb. 12. After being picked fifth in the preseason coaches poll, ETSU took offense to the ranking and finished SoCon play with a mark of 3-1-1 to secure the No. 2 seed in the conference tournament – setting up today's home match with the Terriers.
 


On Sunday, ETSU extended its home unbeaten streak against the Terriers to 10 as the Bucs are 5-0-5 versus Wofford at Summers-Taylor Stadium. In addition, the Blue & Gold are now 8-0-3 in the last 11 matches against the Terriers. With the draw in the semifinals, ETSU moved its overall record to 5-6-5, while Wofford ended its season at 8-6-3.
 
In a match where the Bucs were outshot, 18-5, ETSU struck first late in the first half to go ahead, 1-0. The goal came in the 40th minute by Lucas Nordin as he was fed a pass by Oliver Einarsson and the Buccaneer forward found himself in a 1-on-1 situation with the Wofford keeper. Nordin fired a missile to the bottom right corner of the net resulting in his first collegiate goal.
 
The second half was much different than the first as Wofford stepped up the pressure and held possession for much of the frame. The Terriers took nine shots in the final 45 and Buccaneer goalkeeper Marc Kouadio recorded three saves. One the saves came on a penalty kick after Jimmy Choi was charged with a questionable hand ball inside the box in the 74th minute. Stewart Patnaud stepped up for the kick – and after a hesitation – Kouadio picked a read where he stuffed the Terriers' attempt with a diving stop to the right.
 
As the final minutes of the second half were counting down, Wofford found the equalizer in the 87th minute off a set piece. With Wofford being credited with a corner kick, Thaddeus Dennis sent a ball flying through the box where Hugo Moldin was there for a header on his first goal of the season.
 
Both teams played two scoreless 10-minute overtime periods to set up the dramatic penalty kicks.
 
ETSU had the first look as newcomer Dave Neijenhuis stepped up and scored towards the bottom left of the frame. The next three Buccaneer looks came from returners Ryan Suckling (second attempt), Gabriel Ramos (third attempt) and Louie Salkeld (fourth attempt). Suckling's shot went to the top right corner, Ramos went top left and Salkeld went center. With ETSU holding the 4-3 lead in PKs, Wofford's Nic Parker stepped up to try and tie things up; however, his shot sailed way high for the miss. It all came down to the Buccaneer freshman and Hendriks had ice water in his veins as he snuck one past fellow all-freshman member Leo Ledin for the winner.
 


For the match, Kouadio made five saves, while Ledin stopped one. The Terriers were plus-3 in corners, 9-6, and ETSU committed seven more fouls, 17-10.
 


Ironically, the other SoCon semifinal went to penalty kicks and fourth-seeded Furman took out top-seeded UNCG in Greensboro.
 
The Bucs will now host Furman in the championship match on Sunday, Nov. 17 at 2 p.m. inside Summers-Taylor Stadium.
 
For more information on Buccaneer men's soccer, visit ETSUBucs.com and click on the men's soccer tab.