Betts lifts Buffs after late scare

Top-seeded Milligan University advanced to the Appalachian Athletic Conference men’s soccer tournament championship game with a 4-2 win over St. Andrews Monday night.

Betts lifts Buffs after late scare
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March 29, 2021

MILLIGAN, Tenn. (March 29, 2021) – Top-seeded Milligan University advanced to the Appalachian Athletic Conference men's soccer tournament championship game with a 4-2 win over St. Andrews Monday night.

Milligan led 2-0 before a late scare brought the game tied with under 15 minutes to go. Charlie Betts scored twice, including the eventual winner in the 82nd minute.

"I am really proud of this group," Head Coach David Lilly said. "They keep showing new levels of resilience. I thought we played extremely well in the first half and we were trying to get that third goal to make things more comfortable. St. Andrews are a great team and we always knew they were capable of fighting back in the game.

"When they got the game back to 2-2, it was always going to be interesting to see how we react to that adversity. Once again, the boys have stepped up in a difficult moment and got over the finish line. I am incredibly proud to be a part of this journey with these guys. We look forward to hosting a very good Reinhardt team in the final next week."

Betts one of three goal scorers for the Buffs

Betts also put the Buffs on the board early in the game, gathering a saved Luke Bennett shot and finishing it off from close range. Bennett would score on a similar play 25 minutes later when he was in the right place at the right time to finish off a saved Inaki Moreno shot.

Teams went into the break at 2-0, but a late spurt from St. Andrews tied the game up when the Knights struck twice in a span of 90 seconds. This forced Betts and the Buffs to go into the lead once again, and they did so on a close finish from Betts following a corner kick from Raphael Sefriou.

Victor Castel padded the lead with a goal from distance to make it 4-2 in the 89th minute.

Up next

Milligan will face Reinhardt for the AAC tournament title. Reinhardt was a 2-1 winner over Tennessee Wesleyan in the other semifinal. Milligan defeated Reinhardt 1-0 to close out the fall slate on a last-second goal by Albert Montragull.

Date and time of the tournament final are to be determined. Milligan, the No. 1 seed, will host.

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