BRISTOL, Tenn. --- Ben Delisle scored his second penalty kick goal of the afternoon less than two minutes into overtime as King University defeated Tusculum University 3-2 in non-conference men's soccer action Wednesday at Parks Field.
The Tornado (1-3-0), playing their third consecutive overtime game, needed just 1:35 of extra time to convert the winning goal against the Pioneers (0-3-0), who had rallied from 1-0 and 2-1 deficits to force overtime on goals by Henrique Devens and Arthur Le Gall.
Delisle had two goals and an assist for King, which was outshot 18-10 by Tusculum including 10-4 in the second half. The Pioneers also had a 6-3 edge in corner kicks against the Tornado, but King keeper Dalton Gammon finished with six saves in goal to earn the victory.
Tusculum had two great chances in the 10th minute, but Gammon directed a shot from close range by Devens off the goal post then steered the rebound by Luke Murphy over the crossbar. Murphy had another opportunity from inside the six in the 15th minute, but his effort was stopped by Gammon.
In the 18th minute, the Tornado earned a corner kick which came to Griffin Chen, whose first attempt was cleared off the line by the Pioneers' Georgios Charkoutsakis and whose second try ricochet off the crossbar and out of play.
At 24:54, the Tornado were awarded a penalty kick after a foul was called against the Pioneers' Dani Gongora for a foul on Carlos Saavedra at the very top of the 18. Delisle stepped up to go opposite side on Tusculum keeper Alejandro Quiriti for a 1-0 King lead.
Tusculum responded with 24:45 left in the second half as a takedown by King's Adonis Wheeler in the box led to a penalty for the Pioneers. Devens stepped up and beat Gammon for his first goal of the season and a 1-1 tie.
The Pioneers had a great chance with 16 minutes to play as a free kick was loose in the box, but Charkoutsakis blasted wide of the frame. One minute later, Le Gall took a shot from 25 yards that Gammon fought off to keep the match tied.
Davidson pushed the Tornado back in front 2-1 with 12:35 left off assists from Delisle and L.A. Anderson, but the Pioneers responded just over two minutes later as Le Gall put home a corner kick by Oscar Rubio Jimenez to deadlock the score at 2-2 with 10:20 remaining. Le Gall had a scoring chance for the Pioneers with one minute remaining, but shot wide of the King goal.
In the first minute of overtime, the Pioneers nearly converted the winning goal but Gammon was able to corral a shot from the top of the box by Devens. At the other end of the field, Davidson of King took a through pass from Jairo Ruiz Caram and was knocked off the ball 15 yards out by Tusculum keeper Quiriti, who was ruled to have fouled the attacker on the play. Delisle took the penalty and went nearly down the middle for the winning goal.
Quiriti had three saves for the Pioneers, who committed nine fouls to 12 for the Tornado. King was flagged three times for offsides while Tusculum was called once, and there were no cards issued to either side.
The Pioneers will open their South Atlantic Conference schedule at Lenoir-Rhyne on Saturday at 3:30 p.m.
