Box Score The Centre men's soccer team made a valiant comeback to send the match to overtime, but Berry claimed the first Southern Athletic Association championship in penalty kicks Sunday in Birmingham, Ala.
After handing Berry its only conference loss in a game in Danville on Sept. 29, Centre found itself in an early hole in the teams' second meeting. Berry's Zak Wallingford scored in the 30th minute to take an early lead, then Caleb Lucas put the Vikings up 2-0 with a goal just two minutes into the second half.
The Colonels seized the momentum from that point though, as Josh Settle (Bowling Green, Ky.) scored his fourth goal of the tournament with Austin Greer (Bowling Green, Ky.) assisting to cut the margin to one with 30 minutes to play. With just inside 15 minutes to play, the Colonels got the equalizer when Ryan Garvey converted a penalty kick for his school record 19th goal of the year.
Neither team was able to find the net through the rest of regularion or the two overtime periods, sending the game to penalty kicks. With the Colonels going second, Settle, Garvey and Jack Goblirsh (Elizabethtown, Ky.) made Centre's first three kicks before Cameron Miller (Nicholasville, Ky.) missed the fourth. Berry made all five of its kicks to clinch the conference championship.
Berry took 18 shots in the game to Centre's 17 while the Colonels had a 7-5 edge in corners. Zach Sosnovich (Woodbridge, N.J.) made six saves for Centre while Logan hill had three stops for Berry.
Centre stands at 14-3-3 on the season with Berry at 14-3-2. The teams now await the release of the NCAA Tournament brackets at 1 p.m. Monday.