COLUMBIA, S.C - A jam-packed crowd at Sessions Field witnessed the most important home game in CIU men's soccer program history on Tuesday evening. CIU (11-3-4) advanced past Tennesee Wesleyan (11-2-6) in penalty kicks after a 2-2 draw in regulation in the Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) semifinals. The Rams, the No. 2 overall seed, will now host Union College (Ky.) in the AAC Championship match this Friday, Nov. 11. 

Scoring Summary: Each team fired off a respectable number of shots in the first frame, but the visitors struck first. A goal from TWU's Edon Mehana came in the 42' minute to put the Bulldogs on top. However, CIU evened the match almost instantly after the break on a Praise Kabwe goal in just the 46' minute. Kabwe's score was assisted on by Sohya Yamamoto. 

The Bulldogs continued to threaten with several scoring chances and finally capitalized yet again in the 82' minute off the foot of Jonah Lewis. The Rams appeared to have lost thier grasp on the match until Yamamoto came up clutch driving a pass from Daniel Ospina into the back of the net on a diving header to bring the score to 2-2 in the 89' minute.

Both teams were blanked in overtime, and the match moved to a penalty shoot-out. After both teams found scores on their first four attempts, CIU freshman keeper Chase Knizek came up big, blocking the Bulldog's fifth attempt with a diving save toward the right post. Kabwe then calmly stepped up and ended the match by drilling the Ram's fifth and final penalty kick to send CIU to their first-ever AAC Championship. 

Hear from keeper Chase Knizek postgame:


Up Next: CIU will host Union College (Ky.) in the 2022 AAC Men's Soccer Championship on Friday, Nov. 11, at 7 PM