GOLDEN, Colo. – The Western Washington University men's soccer team picked up a big 4-3 road victory Monday night, defeating the Colorado School of Mines on an overtime golden goal penalty kick by junior midfielder Georg Cholewa.
 
WWU evened its season record at 2-2-0 with the comeback victory over the preseason No. 16 Orediggers (2-2-0). The Vikings fell just short of a remarkable road trip, falling to No. 6-ranked West Texas A&M 1-0 on Friday via an own goal.
 
Monday's back-and-forth affair featured a tough battle on the Stermole Soccer Stadium pitch, the Vikings scoring unanswered goals in the 66^th (Ryan Schaefer) and 96^th (Cholewa) minutes to pull off the key road victory.
 
"This was an exciting, hard-fought match…and a great team win against a quality opponent," said WWU head coach Greg Brisbon. "We battled back, got great contributions from the bench and scored four great goals. Proud of the effort and the way they fought until the end to get the winning result."
 
WWU was edged 18-16 in shots during the contest, but was efficient holding a decisive 9-2 advantage in shots on goal.
 
The Vikings jumped out to the early lead in the 6^th minute when senior Christian Rotter (Auburn, WA/Auburn Mountainview) connected on a one-touch shot to the lower right of the goal on a pass from Cholewa.
 
CSM scored the equalizer in the 21^st minute on a goal by Ryan Wilson to the upper left and forged ahead in the 28^th minute with Greyson Adams scoring the go-ahead goal at the 27:15 mark.
 
Western tied things up in the 32^nd minute when sophomore defender Iakov Shmelev (Togliatti, Russia/Eastlake) scored his first collegiate goal. From the far right side of the penalty area, Shmelev fired a low hard shot to the left post through the defense for the equalizer.
 
Mines once again took the lead, this time early in the second half in the 52^nd minute on an own goal by the WWU defense.
 
From that point forward, the WWU defense stiffened not allowing a shot on goal.
 
On the comeback trail once again. The Vikings evened things up at 3-3 in the 66^th minute when senior Ryan Schaefer (Burien, WA/Kennedy/Univ. of Denver) scored his first goal of the season with an assist to sophomore midfielder Dakota Stamnes (Mount Vernon, WA). Stamnes broke across the midfield line, sprinting through the CSM defense where he perfectly threaded the ball to a streaking Schaefer, who one-timed over the keeper to the far post.
 
The final 25 minutes were highly contested, but remained even at 3-3 sending the match to the overtime period. Just over five minutes into the first overtime the Vikings drew a foul in the box and Cholewa converted on the game-winning penalty kick for his second goal of the season (and 12^th of his career).
 
"We had a good trip…just got a little unlucky at West Texas and surely have some things that we need to clean up," added Brisbon. "But they have remained confident and they believe in themselves. We will work hard in training and continue to improve working toward achieving our goals. Two big matches coming up and then we head into conference play."
  WWU (2-2-0) will take this weekend off to train, and returns to action with a pair of non-conference matches vs. West Region foes No. 5-ranked Azusa Pacific (Thursday, 9/26) and Point Loma (Saturday, 9/28). Both home matches start at 7 pm at Harrington Field on the south end of the WWU campus (free parking in the C lots). The complete 18-match regular-season schedule, in addition to roster information and social media posts, can be viewed online at WWUVikings.com/MSOC.
 

 Western Washington 4, Colorado School of Mines 3 (OT)
 Date: September 16, 2019
 Field: Stermole Soccer Stadium  Site: Golden, CO
 Attendance: 178

 Goals by period           1  2  OT  Tot
 ---------------------------------------
 Western Washington......  2  1  1  -  4
 Colorado Mines..........  2  1  0  -  3

 SCORING SUMMARY:
  1.  5:44   WWU  Rotter (Cholewa)
  2.  20:22  CSM  Wilson (King)
  3.  27:15  CSM  Greyson (Zobott)
  4.  31:59  WWU  Shmelev (Tomasi)
  5.  51:31  CSM  WWU Own Goal
  6.  65:11  WWU  Schaefer (Stamnes)
  7.  95:38  WWU  Cholewa (Penalty Kick)

 Shots: CSM 18, WWU 16
 Shots on Goal: WWU 9, CSM 2
 Saves: WWU 0, CSM 5 (Johnson - 5)
 Kits: WWU – Navy; CSM – White

  Fans can follow WWU men's soccer online at WWUVikings.com/MSoc, and via social media on Twitter (@SoccerWWU), Instagram (@wwu_msoccer) and Facebook (@WWUsoccermens). All home matches feature a live webcast, as well as most road matches, with links on how to follow the games available at WWUVikings.com/Live.
  The Western Washington University men's soccer program enters its 40^th season at the varsity level in 2019 with head coach Greg Brisbon leading the program in his seventh season as the head coach. The program has recorded an overall record at or above the .500 mark in six of the last seven seasons, including a 11-6-1 mark overall in 2018 and a 7-4-1 mark in the GNAC to finish second in the conference. In 2016 the Vikings advanced to the NCAA Division II Championships for the first time in program history, using a late-season surge that saw the Vikings 5-0-1 over the last six matches to advance to the postseason. WWU beat 19^th-ranked Dixie State in the first round of the NCAA Championships 3-2 in overtime on a golden goal header. Overall the program has produced 43 GNAC Players of the Week selections, 27 First Team All-GNAC players and 3 GNAC Players of the Year since joining the conference in 2001.
 

M⚽️ | A HUGE road victory for @SoccerWWU over preseason nationally-ranked Colorado School of Mines, 4-3, with Georg Cholewa converting on a PK in the 96th minute. 

What a battle...what a #VIKtory in Golden. 

WWU 4 | CSM 3 pic.twitter.com/oBGc6R9BQn
— WWU Athletics (@WWUAthletics) September 17, 2019