GREENVILLE, S.C. – The Wofford men's soccer team (6-10-1, 1-4-0 SoCon) advanced to the Southern Conference Tournament Semifinals after overtime heroics by Declan Mettee. The Terriers took down the No. 4 seeded ETSU, 2-1, in overtime on Friday night in Stone Soccer Stadium. They will play No. 1 seeded Furman on Sunday, November 9.

The Terriers returned to the field in their signature 4-2-3-1 formation. Nick Dyer and Sam Diebold retained their starting positions while Samuel Byron took over for Stewart Patnaud. The starters included Pepe Hinterschuster in goal, Jakob Andersson, Nick Dyer, Adam Celik and Mikey Hernandez along the back line. Edvin Langdaahl, Max Talley and Kalle Rahbek made up the midfield. Samuel Byron, Sam Diebold and Nathan Simes filled out the forwards.

First Half
The first string of chances went in the way of Wofford in the 3^rd minute, after a long throw in found Dyer in the box. He was able to fire off a quick shot, saved to the feet of Simes for another kick shot, pushed out for a corner. The resulting corner found the head of Celik, but was over the bar, ending a quick burst of offensive pressure.

The Terriers dominated possession in the early minutes of the game, allowing them to control the pace of the game. They moved the ball back and forth to find the holes in the Buccaneers' defense for multiple strong passes into the opposition's box resulting in five shots, three on target, within 15 minutes.  

Similar to the regular season match up, most of the momentum seemed to be in Wofford's favor for most of the half, but ETSU was still able to grab a goal before half after an effort from outside the box took a slight deflection past Hinterschuster. Other than this attempt, the Buccaneers had not seen much success in the half, only finding two shots, both on goal, compared to Wofford's eight, four on goal. The Terriers controlled 58 percent of possession and had three of the four corners in the half.

Second Half
The Buccaneers came out of the locker rooms with a new confidence to them. Not only were they able to find footing in possession, but they were able to serve multiple dangerous balls into Wofford's box. It seemed that ETSU would add another to their tally in the 61^st minute, but Hinterschuster stopped the ball with his face to keep it within one.

Compared to the first half's 11 shots, the second half seemed to being moving slow. Only three shots were taken in the first 20 minutes, all from the Buccaneers. With 18 minutes left in the game, Wofford seemed to make a tactical change, swapping Stewart Patnaud for Edvin Laangdahl in the midfield. This change singled a shift in forward momentum, pushing more bodies up the field.

This approach helped as the Terriers fired off two shots in the next five minutes. Wofford almost found a goal from a Stewart Patnaud header, but Simes' flick pass was called offside. Just a minute later, another chance was wide of the mark as the ball fell to Samuel Byron's feet at the top of the box in space and he took the shot.

With two minutes left of regulation, Jakob Andersson drove down the left side of the field, serving a ball into the box. Nathan Simes was not able to reach it and an ETSU defender knocked it away. The ball found the feet of Stewart Patnaud who rifled a shot in to send the game into overtime, 1-1.

Overtime
Early into the first overtime period, an ETSU player caught a Wofford midfielder and was initially issued a straight red card, but after review, the decision was changed to a yellow card. This only added to the high tension already in the game. The Terriers almost found themselves ahead after Declan Mettee was at the end of a cross that was pushed away by the keeper. His shot hit the crossbar and bounced at Nathan Simes, who attempted a bicycle kick, but was stuffed by the defender. Wofford had all four shots in the first overtime period.

The second period seemed to be heading to penalties, but in the 103^rd minute, Wofford barreled down the field with Nathan Simes and Declan Mettee. Simes controlled a ball from Kalle Rahbek and fired off a shot, but it was blocked. Mettee was there to pick up the scraps and end the game.

Inside the Numbers

• Wofford and ETSU went to penalty kicks the last time they faced each other in the SoCon Tournament.
• Wofford had 18 shots, marking the six time that the Terriers fired off 15 or more shots this season.
• Mettee scored his second game-winning goal of the season.

Next Up
The Terriers return to action against Furman on Sunday, November 9, in the Southern Conference Tournament Semifinals. No. 5 seeded Wofford will look to upset the No. 1 seed in a regular season finale rematch. All action will be streamed exclusively on ESPN+, starting at 2 p.m.