VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. – In a near replay of last year's NCAA Elite 8 contest in which Messiah defeated the short-handed CNU men's soccer team, 2-1, in overtime, the No. 1 ranked Falcons scored a tying goal with eight minutes to play and then won in overtime, 2-1 again, against No. 5 CNU, in the first round of the Virginia Wesleyan Marlin Invitational Friday night.
Winston Mattheisen gave CNU a 1-0 lead in the 54th minute with an assist to Brian Lybert.
But Messiah equaled the score at 81:49 as Jeff Pezon scored from Nick Thompson, and then won it at 102:36 with Danny Thompson knocking in a rebound of a missed shot.
It was CNU's first loss after three wins. Messiah is now 3-0.
The Captains complete play in the tournament by taking on Baldwin-Wallace Saturday at 5 p.m.
The box score
