It was 362 days ago that the Lancaster Bible men's soccer team held a 3-1 lead over Stevenson with just under four minutes to play. In the blink of an eye, the Mustangs had tied the game at 3-3 and would eventually score the game-winner seven minutes into overtime and stun Lancaster Bible on Charger Field. On Tuesday night in Stevenson, Maryland, it was the Chargers turn to play late-game spoiler.

Trailing, 2-1 with under 20 minutes to go, Lancaster Bible sophomore Edward Bills tied the game on an penalty kick with 16:51 to play and then assisted on Josiah Groff's goal with 24 seconds left to give the Chargers an improbable 3-2 victory. The win is the first of the season for Lancaster Bible as the Chargers improve to 1-0-1.

In the first half, Lancaster Bible took an early 1-0 lead thanks to Justin Stoltzfus' first collegiate goal 10:46 into the contest. The score remained that way through halftime as the teams split possession for much of the opening 45 minutes. 

Stevenson began to control more of the play in the second half and was rewarded with a penalty kick at the 57:22 mark. After working the ball into the box, a Stevenson player drew a foul and Reid Hawkins converted the ensuing penalty kick to knot the score at 1-1. Hawkins gave the Mustangs the lead nine minutes later as he headed in a great cross from Andrew Catalana. 

Less than seven minutes later, Groff collected the ball in the box and was bumped from behind and sent to the ground. The ref immediately blew his whistle and granted the Chargers a penalty kick. Bills, who was two-for-two on penalty kicks last season, stepped up and buried a shot into the upper right-hand corner to tie the game at 2-2 with 16:51 remaining. 

As the teams went back-and-forth over the final 15 minutes, Lancaster Bible goalkeeper Josue Bosque made the save of the game as he stopped a Stevenson shot point blank and kept the score at 2-2. 

With under a minute to play, the Chargers pushed the ball downfield as Bills collected the ball and then fed it to a streaking Groff who took the ball and scored past the charging Stevenson goalkeeper. Groff, one of the team's two captains, sprinted towards the bench to celebrate the goal as he and the Chargers cracked the win column for the first time this season.

"I thought we played well for a lot of the game, but really started playing with urgency after we got down 2-1," Lancaster Bible Head Coach Tom Ardt said. "I thought we challenged balls and played a great physical half of soccer. Stevenson switched some things up in the second half and give them credit, they played really well in the second half and are a good team."

Ardt said there are some things the team needs to fix going forward, but overall was very happy with the team's performance.

"We need to be a little sharper in all facets of the game and need to play better defensively, but we are obviously thrilled with the result," Ardt said. "Bills and Groff were huge for us tonight, but the whole team stepped up and we used a lot of players who played a lot of good minutes. We battled and put ourselves in a position to win."

Stevenson finished the game with a 16-12 advantage in shots and held a 5-4 edge in shots on goal. 

The victory over Stevenson is the first for Lancaster Bible since 1997 when Stevenson University was called Villa Julie College. Stevenson / Villa Julie had won the previous six games.

Lancaster Bible will have another week off before playing as the Chargers will host Cairn next Tuesday at 4 p.m. The Chargers won, 2-0 last season in Langhorne, Pa. and are ready to renew the rivalry once again.

"We are beyond excited to play Cairn and are looking forward to that game a week from now," Ardt said.

Notes:
-Lancaster Bible once again had no yellow or red cards, despite playing what Ardt called, "A very physical game."

-Dating back to last season, the Chargers are now 7-3-1 on the road in their past 11 games.