JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The North Florida men's soccer team is headed for the Atlantic Sun Conference Championship game for the third-straight year after defeating third-seeded Lipscomb, 2-1 in a double-overtime thriller. Senior Helge Pietschmann provided the heroics with his fifth goal of the season in the 109^th minute.
 
In a game that seemed destined for penalty kicks, senior Drew Spragg made a final push on the Osprey attack when he was taken down inside the box forcing a penalty kick with 1:36 remaining in the second overtime session. Head Coach Derek Marinatos elected Pietschmann, who came into the contest 3-for-3 in his career in PKs, to take the all-important kick.
 
On the other side was Lipscomb goalkeeper Micah Bledsoe who had yet to save a PK attempt in four tries this season. History served as no indication as Bledsoe slid to the right and denied Pietchmann's PK attempt preserving the 1-1 tie, momentarily. The ricochet of the save came right back to the charging Pietschmann who headed the ball into the back of the net for the game-winning goal.
 
"Helge is our guy on PKs and the Lipscomb keeper got to the right spot and made the save," said Head Coach Derek Marinatos. "The good thing about the play was he was able to follow his own rebound and headed it home. A credit to (Drew) Spragg who drew the penalty in the first place after getting by two guys which gave us the opportunity."
 
The game's other two goals were netted in the first half, with Lipscomb capturing the lead in the 19^th minute on a Jonathan Ramirez's fifth goal of the season. Only one of the previous eight wins this season had the Ospreys erased an early deficit to go on and win. Senior Alex Morrell netted the equalizer in the 38^th minute when he carried the ball from left to right and buried a left-footed shot into the lower right hand corner of the net.
 
Senior goalkeeper Kyle Nasta was outstanding, despite surrendering only his second goal to an Atlantic Sun Conference opponent this year. He made a season-high six saves and collected his ninth win of the year. Nasta made two fantastic saves early in the contest and deflected one of Lipscomb's best opportunities to score early in the second half over the top of the net.
 
The second half of play saw both teams with numerous opportunities to take the lead. The Ospreys took seven of their shots in the final 45 minutes of regulation. The physical, second half play led to the second yellow card and ejection for Mathias Gmeiner with 19:58 remaining in regulation. The man-advantage was short lived as a hard tackle by Simen Solstad just three minutes later led to a red card, returning both teams to even strength.
 
The relentless Osprey offense did not let up and fired eight of its eight shots in the two overtime sessions. In the final three minutes of the first extra session shots by Pietschmann and D'Mello just missed while Jay Bolt had a diving header saved as time expired.
 
An automatic bid to the NCAA College Cup will be on the line on Saturday when the Ospreys host USC Upstate at Hodges Stadium next Saturday. The fourth-seeded Spartans upset top seed FGCU, 4-3 in overtime down in Fort Myers. Saturday's game will be a rematch of the regular season finale at Hodges Stadium in which the Ospreys defeated the Spartans, 2-0. The game is slated for 7:00 p.m. and will be broadcasted live on ESPN3 and is available on the WatchESPN app.