Stevan Evans, Campus Carrier Sports Editor

The Vikings scored with one second remaining in regulation to defeat the Southern Athletic Association’s (SAA) leader Sewanee: The University of the South 11-10 on Saturday, preventing the game from reaching overtime.

“It was a great game all around for both the offense and defense,” sophomore defender Jake Lane said. “As for the last play, it was just an example of what our offense has been doing all year. Just before the game winner by Cory, we (the defense) had let in a man down goal to lose the lead. But the offense picked us right back up by scoring that goal.”

With the win over Sewanee, the Vikings sit at the top of the SAA with a record of 9-3, 4-1 in the conference, while Sewanee fell to 9-3, 4-1.

Sophomore attack Max Smerka had three goals for the Vikings, while junior midfielder Bryan Byers also added  one goal and two assists.

After the first quarter, the Vikings held a 5-3 lead, but Sewanee caught up to tie the game at 5-5 before halftime. In the third quarter, Sewanee scored three goals to the Vikings’ one, to take their first lead since the beginning of the first quarter.

The Vikings rallied and outscored Sewanee 4-2 to bring the game to a 10-10 tie and seemingly take the game into overtime before sophomore attack Cory Hall scored in the final second of regulation to close the game.

“After a timeout with 20 seconds left, we drew up a play for me to come from behind and feed the ball to a [midfielder],” Hall said. “After we ran this, the shot went wide and I heard someone yell ‘Hurry Cory! There’s seven seconds!’ So I picked up the ball and pushed the back pipe and was able to get the shot off in time. Luckily it went in and we won the game.”

The Vikings will face the Birmingham-Southern Panthers tomorrow night at 7 p.m. in Birmingham, Ala.