ROCHESTER, Mich. – Oral Roberts University tied UMKC, 1-1, but the Kangaroos advanced to the Mid-Continent Conference Championship game on penalty kicks, outlasting the Golden Eagles 4-2. The semifinal match was played in very cold and snowy conditions on Friday afternoon in Rochester.

ORU's (6-8-4) midfielder Eric Mattison (Granite Bay, Calif.) received his second yellow card at 53:14. The Golden Eagles were then forced to play the rest of the match a man down.

UMKC (5-12-2) took advantage of the extra attacker as they got on the board first in the 65th minute when Ryan Kaufman scored an unassisted goal to give the Kangaroos the 1-0 lead.

The Golden Eagles fought back to tie the match at the 84:20 mark on a goal by Will Ribera (Santa Cruz, Bolivia). Rivera received a pass from freshman Jorge Davila (Dallas, Texas) and tapped it past UMKC's goalkeeper Brandon Amaya.

ORU and UMKC played 20 minutes of overtime without a goal to end the game at a 1-1 tie. In playoff format, it goes to penalty kicks where each team receives five chances.

UMKC's Ryan Kaufman buried the first penalty kick past ORU's goalkeeper Carlos Veron (Asuncion, Paraguay) for a quick 1-0 lead. ORU's Carlos Pinto (Santa Cruz, Bolivia) had his penalty kick blocked by UMKC's Amaya.

UMKC and ORU both scored on their penalty kicks in the next two rounds as ORU's Gary Duran (Santa Cruz, Bolivia) and Jesse Roque (El Paso, Texas) found the back of the net for the Golden Eagles.

The Kangaroos' Richard Harris scored on their fourth chance to end the game and the season for the Golden Eagles.

In all, ORU held a 17-12 advantage in shots. Pinto led the offense with six shots while Roque had five ORU.

UMKC's Amaya recorded 10 saves in leading the Kangaroos, while ORU's Veron stopped five shots.

Duran and Davila were honored on the all-tournament team for their efforts.

UMKC will play Western Illinois in the championship match. The winner will receive an automatic bid to the NCAA College Cup.

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