The Tigers' strategy to beat the defense of Hiram College was hustle, and that's what produced two goals in exactly one minute.
The DePauw men's soccer team won 3-2 led by two goals by sophomore Andy Morrison to advance to defend its NCAC title. The Tigers will once again travel to Ohio Wesleyan University in a rematch of last year's title game.
"They are hungry," head coach Brad Hauter said. "It's a mental toughness - we got scored on, and we came back. Go back all the way to Hope College: we got scored on in the first 90 seconds of the season, and we came back. This team is as mentally tough of a team I've ever worked with. They don't get rattled."
DePauw kept its composure time and time again against Hiram when Terriers' goalkeeper, Kirby Rice, blocked multiple Tigers shots. Going into the Thursday's tilt, the freshman goalkeeper for Hiram hadn't surrendered a single goal in NCAC competition and displayed his goalkeeping shrewdness when he blocked three tough DePauw shots in the first 20 minutes.
It was the Terriers who struck first as Ty Smith headed a ball past DePauw goalkeeper Tony Halterman in the 28th minute, but the Tigers answered right back.
Junior George Elliott began an attack in the middle of the field and sent a through-pass to senior Dean Weaver sprinting down the right sideline. Weaver corralled the ball and curled into the box to draw in the Hiram defense. He crossed it in, and Morrison buried it for his first goal.
The Terriers responded with an incredible individual effort by Ryan Kramarz. Kramarz brought the ball down near the left sideline while fighting off Morrison trying to win possession. He got all the way down to the left side of the 18-yard box, passed it off, then received it again to unleash a shot past Halterman.
At the half, DePauw was down 2-1, but outshot the visitors, 12-6.
"We felt at halftime we didn't deserve to be down," Morrison said. "We were creating, and we gave up two lucky goals for them, and we knew it was a matter of time that we could covert one."
Added Hauter: "It was coming. We were playing great. We just made a couple of dumb mistakes, but it was there. We needed to get one in the first 15 minutes or else it would start dragging on."
Ten minutes in to the second half, Elliott tore down the right sideline and sent a low cross into the box. The ball didn't find a foot until it wound up with Weaver on the left side of the goal. Weaver then crossed it back into the box which found sophomore Nate Snyder wide-open.
One minute later, it was Elliott again who, this time, streaked down the left sideline and passed it off to Morrison at the top of the 18-yard box. He unleashed a shot that rebounded off the crossbar to freshman Alieu Musa. As Musa controlled the ball, he was taken out from behind, and DePauw was awarded a penalty kick.
Morrison calmly slotted the ball in the lower left corner to complete a two-goal turnaround for a 3-2 lead.
"[Hiram's] front six is phenomenal," Hauter said. "But if you can break the pressure of the front six, their back four is not as strong, and we felt like we could really run it. Our focus was to break the front six and go. They committed to it."
The Tigers held on for the rest of the game as they dropped back one extra player, but still kept up the offensive pressure.
"We were working hard, and everybody was getting back and winning balls in the air," Morrison said. "That was what ultimately gave us the win."
DePauw outshot the Terriers 20-12 despite Hiram holding the edge in corner kicks, 8-6.