The Lancaster Bible College men's soccer team kicked off North Eastern Athletic Conference play in wild fashion on Wednesday as the Chargers and Penn St. Berks played to a 4-4 tie over 110 minutes. The Chargers are now 3-4-2 overall this season and 0-0-1 in conference play, while the Nittany Lions are now 3-5-1 overall and 1-0-1 in NEAC action.

How it Happened: The foreshadowing of what the game would hold happened in the first four minutes of the game as each team scored a goal and the game went end-to-end. Nathaniel Shenk gave Penn St. Berks a 1-0 lead just 2:11 into the game as he put home a rebound off a save from Lancaster Bible goalkeeper Vann Sutphin. The lead didn't last long, as Chargers' freshman Chad Tolson worked his way around a defender and then the Berks goalkeeper, to tie the game at 1-1, just 3:41 into the contest.

Just over 13 minutes later, fellow Lancaster Bible freshman Rama Mugisha fired a shot towards the goal from 20 yards out, but it was blocked. As the blocked shot came towards the ground, Mugisha took the ball out of the air and fired another shot towards the goal, which eluded the goalkeeper and gave the Chargers a 2-1 lead.

Lancaster Bible held its lead until right before halftime, when Branden Valverde got loose down the field and fought off a defender, took the ball and put it past Sutphin, to tie the game at 2-2 at 41:05.

Penn St. Berks didn't waste anytime in taking another one-goal lead in the second half, as Jon Mercier chipped a shot over Sutphin just 45 seconds into the second half. The Chargers fought over the next 30 minutes to get the equalizer, and finally did at 74:42, when Ivan Correa found Jared Jordan down the left-side of the box and Jordan moved the ball towards the goal and found Mugisha, who netted his second goal of the game.

Once again however, Penn St. Berks fought back, and less than three minutes later, Mercier scored his second goal of the half and gave the Nittany Lions a 4-3 lead with 12:34 to play. 

After Lancaster Bible senior Edward Bills hit the post with under 10 minutes to play, the Chargers continued to press to tie the game. With under four minutes to play, Lancaster Bible had the ball around the Penn St. Berks goal and as the ball bounced around, it found the foot of Jordan who put it into the back of the net to knot the score at 4-4.

For all of the excitement during regulation, the overtime periods proved little in the way of offensive chances. Chargers senior Spencer Lockard had a chance late in the second overtime, but his header went just high over the crossbar.

By the Numbers: Penn St. Berks outshot the Chargers, 26-22, including a 12-7 margin in shots on goal...The Chargers produced 10 corner kicks, while Penn St. Berks had six...Mugisha finished with his first two-goal of his career, while Jordan had a goal and an assist...Sutphin made eight saves for Lancaster Bible.

The Coach Says: "Give credit to the guys for battling hard to get back in the game three times," Lancaster Bible Head Coach Tom Ardt said. "At the same time, we can't afford to be mentally switched off at any moment. This is a key matchup and we need to be more focused going foward with every training session and match, regardless of it being in conference or out of conference. There were some great strikes by both sides today, but we have to be aware of the process and how those chances were created, so we can prevent them."

Information Hodge Podge: Lancaster Bible is now 9-10-2 all-time against Penn St. Berks...Wednesday is the first time since the 1992 season that the Chargers have scored four goals in a game and not won the game...Lancaster Bible has scored three or more goals in a game four times in nine games this season.

Up Next: Lancaster Bible hosts St. Elizabeth on Homecoming Saturday at 11:30 a.m.