ALLENTOWN, Pa. -- Exhaustion turned to elation for the Johns Hopkins men's soccer team when freshman Eric West scored the only goal of yesterday's NCAA Division III Mid-Atlantic Regional championship match against host Muhlenberg after 144 minutes, 56 seconds of play.
"I've never been this tired in my life. I just wanted it over," said West.
His goal came with 5:04 remaining in the second 15-minute sudden-death overtime and sent the majority of the 1,000 fans home disappointed.
Those periods were preceded by two regular 15-minute overtime periods. A penalty kick shootout would have been next.
The victory secured a spot in next weekend's quarterfinal round at the site of the winner of today's Tufts vs. Middlebury match. Tufts (12-2-1) beat previously unbeaten Williams, 2-1, and Middlebury (12-2-1) beat Western Connecticut State, 5-4, in penalty kicks after a scoreless match.
Third-seeded Johns Hopkins (14-2-3), tied for No. 23 in Division III, used a packed defense to continually frustrate No. 10 Elizabethtown (3-2) Friday and No. 3 Muhlenberg yesterday.
Muhlenberg (17-2-1) kept the ball in the Hopkins end of the field much of the afternoon and got off 21 shots. However, only three of them needed to be saved by Craig Greenwald, and another was headed off the line by Ken El-Sherif.
"I knew the longer we stayed in it, the better we'd be. We deserved this," said second-year Hopkins head coach Matt Smith.
The winning goal came off one of several Blue Jay counterattacks.
Jon Giordani turned and shot from 20 yards out and keeper Ron Moser emerged to smother the ball. But before he could, it deflected off a defender, leaving the goal unattended.
"The goalie committed, and I just slipped it past him. Sometimes you're in the right place at the right time," said West after his team-leading 22nd goal.
West scored both goals in Johns Hopkins' 2-1 home victory over Muhlenberg earlier this season. The Mules recovered to win the Centennial Conference, and the Blue Jays used the victory as a catalyst for their current 11-match winning streak.
"Last time we played, they had more shots than us, too, but not all were quality then, either. It comes down to a little bit of luck in these games," said Hopkins defender Peter Kahn, who played a big part in keeping the Mules at bay.
"They were frustrated. We played very well position-wise and had a lot of guys there when they attacked."
It was the first regional championship appearance for Muhlenberg, which has made the tournament five of the past six years.