Lyndon State earned a stunning 9-8 double overtime victory over Johnson State in a conference matchup at Mineart Field on the Johnson State College campus on Tuesday afternoon. The Badgers end their season 3-8 on the year and 2-6 in the conference while the Hornets end the season 3-6 overall and 3-5 in the North Atlantic Conference.
Johnson's offense was led by Andrew Neddo who posted four goals on the day while Mason Phillips notched two for the Badgers.
Lyndon's Robert Crupi posted three goals to help the Hornets earn their NAC victory that sealed their playoff spot.
Although Lyndon's Justin Mosher opened up the scoring for the Hornets just two minutes into play, Johnson answered back with a fast four goals to go up 4-1 in the first quarter. Ian Pelkey found the back of the net off of a Mosher assist to end the first fifteen minutes of play.
After a quick goal from Neddo to open the stanza, Lyndon and Johnson traded possession back and forth resulting in six turnovers in eleven minutes of play. The Hornets battled back to lock things up 5-5 when the whistles blew at the half.
The third quarter was much of the same, as the teams each only scored one goal, keeping things knotted 6-6 to enter into the fourth quarter. After another tie-up at 7-7, Lyndon's Ricky Caroll gave the Hornets their first lead since the first goal of the game, going up 8-7. The Badgers shocked the Hornets when Neddo found the back of the net after converting a cross from behind the net from Nate Plocharczyk to send the teams into the first overtime tied 8-8.
Despite Lyndon winning the faceoff, Johnson dominated possession during the first two minutes of overtime play. Both teams slowed their pace down, eager to wait for the perfect shot that ultimately never came. The teams played similarly cautiously in the last overtime stanza with both teams taking only four shots. Lyndon's fourth shot would be the one that counted as Kevin McCarthy rifled home a Mosher pass with 36 ticks to go in sudden death to give Lyndon State the improbable win.
The Hornets will await seeding announcements from the NAC while the Badgers will wrap their season up.