TIFFIN, Ohio – Facing its new arch nemesis for the third time in less than a month, fourth-seeded Ohio Valley tied top seed and avenged a conference championship defeat in the NCAA Midwest Regional semifinals against Tiffin on Sunday.
The Fighting Scots tied the Dragons, 1-1, at the end of 110 minutes on the pitch before winning a penalty kick shootout by a 4-1 count.
Ohio Valley advances to the Midwest Regional final for the second consecutive year and has a title draw slated against No. 3 seed Saginaw Valley State in Hays, Kan., (at Fort Hays State) on Thursday the 15th at 6 p.m. ET.
Fort Hays State is the highest remaining seed in OVU/SVSU’s side of the bracket and will serve as host for the next round.
The Fighting Scots (17-5-1 overall) are back in the final 16 after serving as the Midwest Region host and top seed in 2017. OVU halted a phenomenal first-year run by Tiffin as a new member of the conference.
The Dragons were picked third in the preseason coaches poll, won the regular-season conference title, captured the Great Midwest tournament trophy, served as region host as the top seed and ended the fall ranked No. 12 in the United Soccer Poll.
Tiffin concluded its 2018 campaign with a 15-4-1 overall record.
Ohio Valley’s postseason run in the NCAA Championship bracket started with a first-round win over No. 5 Maryville, a dramatic overtime finish. The Fighting Scots had to battle back from a first-half deficit, but Julian Veloza’s goal in the 79th minute did just that.
It became a chess match as both programs fought to stalemate when double overtime expired and OVU’s Eduardo Capote, Juan Hoyos, Duvan Erazo and Nemanja Acimovic, all came through in the clutch.
Tiffin had bested Ohio Valley on Oct. 20 in the regular season and a little over a week ago in the conference championship title clash, both by 1-0 scores. But beating a team for three consecutive times in one year is just not an easy task to accomplish.
Ohio Valley’s resiliency and playoff experience was on display after the program wasn’t even among the top two seeds in the conference tournament and fought to earn an at-large selection in a tough region.
SVSU defeated No. 6 seed Ashland in the quarterfinals of the regional before taking down No. 2 seed Southern Indiana in the semis.
The OVU/SVSU winner would face the victor of No. 1 Fort Hays State and No. 2 Northeastern State from the Central Region on Saturday, Nov. 17.