GAMBIER, Ohio – The Kenyon College men's soccer team cranked up the intensity in the second half of Sunday's NCAA second-round tournament game and tied things up at 1-1 with the visiting University of Chicago Maroons. After overtime failed to deliver a winner, the Lords used a 4-2 advantage in a penalty kick shootout to eliminate Chicago and advance to the third round for the third straight season.

Kenyon (18-1-1) not only had to overcome a talented Chicago (12-5-3) team, it also had to overcome a lackluster first half that included a potentially disastrous error. Chicago's attack stormed the Lords in the early stages of the game and outshot Kenyon 9-4 through the first half.

In the game's tenth minute, Kenyon senior goalkeeper Sam Clougher attempted a goal kick that ended up striking Chicago's Brenton-Neal Desai, who was still ambling around in the box. Desai quickly gained control of the misfire and gave his squad a 1-0 lead by booting home his 12th goal of the season into what was basically an empty net.

The miscue appeared to unnerve the Lords, who allowed several more scoring chances, but got to halftime with just a 1-0 deficit.

The second half was a completely different ball game. A fired-up Kenyon side kept consistent pressure on the Maroons, started carving out legitimate scoring chances and outshot Chicago 10-1.

In the 58th minute, the Lords broke through as senior Jeremiah Barnes floated a crossing pass from the left end line toward the mouth of the goal. The pass was met by junior Tony Amolo, who headed it past Chicago keeper Hill Bonin. The goal was Amolo's 18th of the season. It also lit a fire under the Lords and brought the home crowd back to life as Kenyon continued to apply pressure to a tiring Chicago defense.

Even with momentum on its side, Kenyon could not muster another goal in regulation. The two overtime periods didn't solve anything either. Both teams registered a total of four shots in the extra frames to make the final count 18-14 in favor of Kenyon.

The only shots that matter after that were the ones taken in the penalty kick shootout.

Chicago's Desai took the first shot and managed to get it past Clougher. Amolo then beat Bonin to knot things at 1-1.

Clougher stepped things up down the stretch and came up huge on two of Chicago's next three attempts. He first stopped Andre Abedian's shot with a sliding save to his left. Oliver Wynn and Barnes followed with goals for Kenyon that surrounded a Jorge Bilbao goal for Chicago. With the Lords holding a 3-2 advantage, Daniel Weiss tried to test Clougher's left side again, but Clougher got his hands on the ball and redirected it high enough that it hit the crossbar and bounced away.

Sitting on a 3-2 shootout lead, Kenyon turned to junior Dalton Eudy to seal the deal. Eudy lined up, buried his shot into the right side of the net and the rest of the Lords rushed the field to celebrate.

Kenyon moves on to face defending national champion Tufts University, a team that rallied Sunday night to defeat Montclair State University, 3-2. The Lords will once again play host to the tournament's next two rounds. Kenyon will battle Tufts on Friday at Mavec Field. Game time is set for 11:00 a.m. Following that game, Calvin College and Franklin & Marshall College will square off at 1:30 p.m.

The winners of Friday's games will then meet Saturday at 1 p.m. for the right to move on to the Final Four.