EVANS, Ga. | The Young Harris College men's soccer team found themselves facing a deficit twice in the Peach Belt Conference Tournament title match against No. 18 Lander University Sunday (Nov. 6) afternoon at Blanchard Woods Park to tie the match at 2 and win their third consecutive PBC Tournament crown as the downed the Bearcats 4-3 in the penalty kick shootout.

Young Harris improved to 11-6-1 while Lander fell to 14-3-1.The Mountain Lions, who become the first PBC team to win three straight titles since USC Upstate from 2001-03.  The third of the Upstate titles was also in a PK shootout. Both teams will learn its postseason fates Monday (Nov. 7) evening when the NCAA announces the field for the Division II Tournament which gets underway on campus sites next weekend. 

"This is a remarkable end to a very slow start to 2016," said YHC head coach Mark McKeever. "Having added 16 new players to our roster, we had no right to win the championship again but these lads have come together having faced many forms of adversity and turned this team into a team of champions.  

"I am delighted that our departing players - Jonny (Denton), Ramin (Varnhorn), Alex (Wyper) and Marijo (Gojic) - can all enjoy three PBC Tournament championships in a row. This is a special feat for any student-athlete and I'm sure there are very few who will have gone through college soccer winning as many titles as these lads have.  I am excited to see the direction this team can go, the potential is very, very high for the next couple of years.  I am a very proud coach to say the least."

After the teams battled to a 2-all draw through 110 minutes of play, the title came down to just the third shootout in the 26-year history of the league and the first since 2009. 

Lander went first with a goal from Jordan Skelton. He was answered by YHC's Anthony Tshimpi, who was named the tournament's most valuable player  Lander's Delhommelle and YHC's Jonny Denton also connected on their penalties after two rounds.

Young Harris got the edge in round three as goalkeeper Anton Viden, who was inserted just for the shootout, made a save to his left on Lander's Richard Bryan attempt.  YHC's Marco Micaletto, who was named to the all-tournament team, then scored to give the Mountain Lions the edge 3-2.  Oliver Brock scored for Lander and Sam Jones, who was named to the all-tournament team,  for Young Harris in the fourth round. Lander;s Ianis Ghachem's miss to the left in round five sealed the title for Young Harris.

The two teams had played a scoreless first half despite a pressure attack from Young Harris.  Lander finally broke through early in the second half as Hugo Delhommelle curled a free kick around the YHC defensive wall and into the net at the 57:08 mark for his sixth strike of 2016.

That lead was short-lived as Young Harris answered back just 28 seconds later as Carlos Gomez cleaned up a free kick in the Lander box for his team-leading 13th goal of the 2016 campaign.  Ramin Varnhorn had the assist.

Lander scored once again in the 69th minute.  Conor Felstead took a great pass from Michael Leach and Ghachem and buried it with a flick and a 2-1 Lander lead. But once again, the Mountain Lions responded.  With 13 minutes left to play, Micaletto found a loose ball after a corner kick and planted it home to tie the score at 2 on his seventh goal of the year.

Macauley King was the fourth Mountain Lion named to the all-tournament squad.