WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – In one of its most exciting games of the year, the fifth seeded Embry-Riddle men's soccer team defeated fourth seeded Northwood in the opening round of the Sun Conference Tournament.  The Eagles tied the Seahawks 2-2 but ultimately won the match 9-8 in penalty kicks.
 
ERAU now advances to the semifinals of the conference tournament, while Northwood is knocked out.  However, as the host of this year's NAIA Men's Soccer National Championship, Northwood has earned a bid to the national tournament.
 
Saturday's game was very fast paced and physical from the beginning.  After sharing possession of the ball for the first five minutes, the Eagles fell behind early when Northwood's Sami Lahtinen scored a goal from point blank range.  It looked as though Embry-Riddle defender Magnus Magnusson would be able to block the shot, but the ball bounced off of him and rolled to the left of ERAU goalkeeper Nils Carlson for a 1-0 Seahawk lead.
 
After Northwood's initial score, both teams played excellent defense as neither squad could get anything going offensively inside the box until the 18^th minute when ERAU senior Veit Couturier fired a shot from the left side of the goal that was saved by Seahawk goalkeeper Mark Dawson.
 
Less than two minutes later though, the Eagles would put on a beautiful display of passing and teamwork to earn their first goal of the day.  After another defensive stop, Moriba Ballah passed the ball down the left side of the pitch to a streaking Daniel Gylfason.  Gylfason then crossed midfield, passed to Lewis Blackmore who flicked the ball to Couturier.  Couturier passed the ball back to Gylfason who was at the 18-yard mark and the freshman dribbled for a few yards before finding the back of the net to tie the game 1-1.
 
The Eagles kept up the offensive intensity, and just seven minutes later it looked as if Couturier would give ERAU the lead when he fired a shot from a few yards out that Dawson deflected to left to set up an Embry-Riddle corner kick. 
 
Gylfason sent the ensuing corner kick to the opposite side of the pitch, where it was corralled by Couturier who crossed the ball to the middle of the box allowing the 6-3 Magnusson to head the ball into net for his first goal of the season.
 
It was then Northwood's turn to put the offensive pressure on as the Seahawks challenged Carlson and the ERAU defense several minutes later with two quick shots. NU forward Noval Failer sent a shot from about 10 yards out that Carlson saved and just seconds later the Seahawks shot another ball that was blocked by an ERAU defender.
 
Late in the first half it looked as though the Blue and Gold would be able to put some real pressure on Northwood when Couturier lined up for a penalty kick after being fouled inside the box by NU defender Liam Gourlay, who received a yellow card for the play.  Unfortunately for the Eagles, Couturier's shot missed as it hit off the right post.
 
Less than 15 seconds after the penalty kick, Gourlay was given his second yellow card of the day after battling for position with Blackmore, forcing Northwood to play a man down for the remainder of the match.
 
Northwood bounced back quickly from the setback, though, as Mark Voisin scored from right in front of the goal off a cross just two minutes later to tie the game at 2-2 heading into halftime. 
 
The second half saw very little offense from either team as a myriad of fouls and some very physical play prevented either squad from getting into any kind of offensive rhythm.
 
Northwood put the pressure on the Embry-Riddle defense midway through the second frame making a flurry of shot attempts, including a one minute span in which the Seahawks took three shots.  Luckily for the Eagles none of those shots were on frame.
 
It was late in the second half when things started to heat up.  In the 74^th minute Northwood's Theo Stamatopoulos took a shot from less than 10 yards out that looked like it was destined for the back net, but Nils Carlson made what might have been the play of the match when he jumped and kicked the ball away with his right foot.  Northwood had one more shot on goal several minutes later but it was saved easily by Carlson. 
 
The only real chance the Eagles had at scoring in the second period came in the 82^nd minute.  Eric LaVerne curved a shot from 20 yards out that looked like it might sneak into the left side of the net, but went wide. 
 
With neither team able to score in the second frame, the match headed to overtime.  Embry-Riddle struggled offensively in first overtime period as the team failed to attempt even one shot.  However, the Eagles played very good defense and only allowed two shots from Northwood, both of which sailed high. 
 
After a scoreless first overtime period, the match headed to a second overtime frame.  The second overtime looked very similar to the first as ERAU failed to get off a shot attempt yet again.  The Eagles did have one corner kick but it did not manifest into anything as Glyfason's kick sailed out of bounds.
 
Northwood, however did threaten near the end of the period of extra time.  The Seahawks kept the ball on the Eagles side of the pitch for the final three minutes of the frame and took two corner kicks in the final minute.  The Eagles managed to deflect both corner kicks out of the box, sending the game penalty kicks.
 
The first five shooters for each team had successful penalty kick attempts, so, following the pattern of the rest of the game, extra rounds were needed.
 
The ensuing two rounds of penalty kicks saw each shooter easily put the ball in the back of the net. 
 
It was in the eighth round where things got interesting.  After the Northwood shooter made his shot, ERAU's Daniel McClintock came up to keep the Eagles' season alive.  McClintock nearly gave sent the ball to the right side of the net and it was tipped by the NU goalkeeper before eventually hitting the back of the net.  It was the first ball where the goalkeeper was able to get a touch in the shootout.
 
The next shooter was Northwood's Iles.  Iles tried to send the shot to the right of Carlson, but the ERAU senior played it perfectly and parried the shot left. 
 
Now all Armando Gonzalez had to do was make one penalty to kick to secure a win for the Eagles.  Gonzalez had played in just two games for the Eagles this season for a total of 11 minutes.  In only his second shot attempt of the season, Gonzalez found the back of the net seal the victory for the Eagles.
 
Overall, the was evenly played with both teams taking 15 shots, with ERAU taking a 7-6 advantage in shots on goal.  Northwood a 5-3 advantage in corner kicks.
 
The Eagles now move on to the semifinals of the Sun Conference Tournament.  They will face the winner of No. 1 seed SCAD Savannah and No. 6 seed St. Thomas next week.