MARIETTA, Ohio — Freshman Cole Pappas (Pittsburgh, Pa./Avonworth) rifled a shot past a diving Jake Kress in the 106th minute to give Marietta College a 1-0 win over Heidelberg University Monday (Oct. 31) afternoon in the first round of the Ohio Athletic Conference Men's Soccer Tournament.

See the game winning goal HERE.

"The game winner was a sight to behold," Marietta head coach Joe Bergin said. "It was a great volley from Pappas. Lost in the celebration is the fact that both (Luke) Maher and (Taylor) Reasoner kept the play alive with headers to give Cole a chance to bury it."

With the win, Marietta improves to 11-8-1 on the season and advances to the semifinals on Wednesday (Nov. 2). The Pioneers will travel to either No. 1 seed John Carroll or No. 2 seed Ohio Northern depending on who wins the other Monday first round match between Capital and Mount Union. Heidelberg finishes the season 7-10-1 overall.

The victory allowed Marietta to excise some demons against the Student Princes. Heidelberg eliminated the Pioneers in the first round of the OAC Tournament in 2015, 2014 and 2009, the last three times MC qualified for the tournament.

"This matched was played with the intensity of a cup final, which in a sense it is," Bergin said. "Neither team would budge. Neither team had great chances, but both teams played a heck of a game."

Neither team was able to mount much of an attack in the first half as both defenses limited the opposing strikers to shoot from well outside the 18-yard box. The first real threat of the match came 10 minutes into the second half.

Heidelberg was whistled for a foul just outside the 18-yard box giving Marietta a direct kick. Noah Laliberty (Scott Depot, W.Va./Winfield) sent the ball into the box but a Student Prince defender got a head on the ball to clear it.

Marietta found itself in real danger four minutes later. A Pioneer defender played the ball back to keeper Tyler Sholl (Johnstown, Ohio/Big Walnut) who illegally picked the ball up in the middle of the 18-yard box resulting in a Heidelberg indirect kick from near the penalty spot.  HU's Greg Raimondo took the kick and sailed it high over the cross bar.

At the end of regulation, each team had taken three shots on goal. Heidelberg had an 8-4 edge in total shots and a 5-4 advantage in corner kicks.

Each team took one shot in the first overtime period. Laliberty missed whide for the Pioneers, while Joseph Tallarico's header went over the cross bar.

Heidelberg put the ball in play to start the second overtime period and sent a long pass to a streaking Isaac Bwayo down the right side of the 18-yard box. Bwayo got behind the Pioneer defense and fired a shot that went just wide of the open goal.

With just over four minutes remaining before moving on to a shootout, Marietta was awarded a throw in in the offensive third of the field. The throw went into the 18-yard box and was headed out by a Heidelberg defender.

Luke Maher (Canonsburg, Pa./Canon-McMillan) headed the ball back into the 18 where Taylor Reasoner (Hudson, Ohio/Hudson) flicked it with his head to the top right corner of the 6-yard box. Pappas was charging hard and lined his first touch inside the near post for the game winner. His second goal of the season.

Sholl made three saves while posting his sixth clean sheet of the fall. Marietta's back line included Laliberty, Brent Huck (Marietta, Ohio/Marietta), Noah Sellers (Fort Thomas, Ky./Highlands), and Sebastian Ziaja (Lake Forest, Ill./Lake Forest).

Kress went the distance in goal for Heidelberg and recorded three saves.

Fans can follow the Pioneers all season long at pioneers.marietta.edu. You can also follow the Pioneers on Facebook at facebook.com/MariettaCollege and @MariettaPioneer on Twitter and Instagram.