WATERTOWN, Wis. -- After 107 minutes of riveting end-to-end action, Isaac Schmidt headed home the winning goal, a positive end to home games for the season, and a thrilling finale to a Parents' Day defeat of Lincoln Christian University.

Grant Kirchner was the man of the match, as he had the game-winning assist - a deflected shot - and the opening goal in the 2-1 win. Ian Balyo made nine saves in the win, coming up big when the team needed him most. With the win, the Sabercats move to 5-8-0 and will conclude their regular season Tuesday at Viterbo University.

OVERVIEW

• Result: Maranatha 2-1 Lincoln Christian (2OT)
• Venue: Maranatha Baptist University
• Location: Watertown, Wis.
• Attendance: 165
• Record: MBU (5-8-0), Lincoln (5-13-0) 

STORY

Both teams traded shots early on but both goalkeepers were up to the task. Balyo tipped a diving save off the post to deny the Red Lions the opener, and the breakthrough finally came in the 30th minute. Kirchner beat a defender up the left side and found himself one-on-one with the goalkeeper before chipping it over him with aplomb for the go-ahead goal.

That lead would hold through halftime, but if the Sabercats looked eager in the first half, Lincoln seemed twice as eager in the second. Rayshawn Jackson threatened to get behind the Sabercats' defense to score the equalizer, but Balyo and Kendall Elms came up with just the right amount of defensive conviction to keep LCU at bay. But the game-tying-goal would finally come. After a foul at the top of the box, Camden Kessler stopped up and buried a penalty kick for the Red Lions for the inevitable equalizer.

Maranatha created chances late, and so did Lincoln. But no one could find the back of the net when it mattered most. Overtime was next.

Just like he did four weeks ago against Faith, Kirchner had a big hand in the golden goal. After a long ball from Joshua Wright, Kirchner darted into the Lincoln penalty area and fired his shot towards the top corner, but after the goalkeeper redirected it up in the air, it looped towards the far post into the path of the hard-charging Schmidt, who made sure with a brave close-range header to score his first collegiate goal and seal a dramatic sudden-death win in front of a boisterous home crowd.

Buddy - Grant - Isaac - GAME ✌️ @IsaacAugust4 pic.twitter.com/WDJakEYoWY

— Maranatha Athletics (@MBUSabercats) October 24, 2021

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Maranatha Starters: 00- Balyo, 2- T. Holloway, 3- Elms (C), 5- Jones, 9- Wright (C), 11- Cummins, 16- Kirchner, 18- P. Holloway, 20- Cooper (C), 21- Hansel (C), 23- Perkins

PARENTS' DAY

Coach Jeff Pill honored the parents of this year's team at halftime, with a special word of the three seniors playing their final home game: Reagan Abbey, Kyle Cummins, and Kendall Elms.

STATS

• Shot count: Maranatha 19-22 Lincoln Christian
• Shots on goal: Maranatha 9-10 Lincoln Christian
• Schmidt: First collegiate goal
• Ian Balyo: 9 saves
• Last time: Maranatha defeated Lincoln Christian 3-1 in their lone 2020 match
• Series: Maranatha now leads the all-time series against Lincoln Christian 25-2-1

OPPONENTS

• Lincoln Christian competes in the NAIA and in the NCCAA DII
• Lincoln Christian used to compete with Maranatha for the NCCAA Midwest Region
• Lincoln Christian concludes their season with the match against Maranatha

NEXT

The Sabercats will head to La Crosse on Tuesday to face Viterbo in their final regular season match at 3:00 p.m. Details at mbusabercats.com/schedule.