CHARLESTON, WV – Under the cover of nightfall, fourth-seeded Davis & Elkins went the distance to eliminate No. 5 Saginaw Valley State in a shootout in NCAA Championship Men’s Soccer Midwest Regional action on Friday.
 
The Great Midwest Athletic Conference-affiliated Senators emerged on top by a 2-0 count in penalty kicks as backup keeper Everton Carvalho came through in the clutch when his name was called.
 
Alex Samarzich and Rafa Moreno cashed in their PK opportunities to keep SVSU keeper Connor Keane.
 
The turn of events that transpired in the shootout would be tough to repeat if duplicated again. Seven attempted shots were either saved or offline between the two teams.
 
Enter Carvalho, who manned his position between the posts and dove to his right each time, guessing correctly to make two huge saves on the first two PK’s he faced in the shootout.
 
Samarzich made his shot to give D&E a 1-0 lead and Carvalho came up big with a save on the would-be tying attempt from the Cardinals. But two-time all-conference selection Pablo Salvador missed and a Saginaw Valley State shot would slam off the post in the third round.
 
A shot from Fredrik Hedemark was saved by Keane and Carvalho’s previous success forced a wide shot right from Saginaw Valley State.
 
Great Midwest Freshman of the Year Rafa Moreno rifled a shot that whistled clean into the net and he circled around the box waiting to celebrate with his teammates and the fans that made the trip to Schoenbaum Stadium.
 
Friedrich Peter, a first-team all-conference defender, put the Senators on the board in the first half. SVSU matched early in the second half for the tying score and both teams battled to a defensive struggle until reaching overtime.
 
D&E is the second team in Great Midwest history to reach the second round of the Midwest Regional in the sport of men’s soccer. Cedarville was able to do so in 2015, also as a No. 4 seed, advancing through to face then-No. 1 seed Rockhurst.
 
With the tie, D&E is now 14-3-3 overall on the season and will face top seed Ohio Valley in a Great Midwest Championship final rematch on Sunday at 1 p.m. ET.