Story courtesy of Columbia Sports Information

Columbia, Mo. – In front of their Family Day & Homecoming crowd, the Columbia (Mo.) College Cougars pulled their second huge upset of the week, defeating No. 11 ranked Park (Mo.) University today (Oct. 10) 2-1 in overtime.

Columbia, ranked No. 24 in this week’s NAIA poll, improves to 10-2-1 on the season and remain in first place in the American Midwest Conference with an undefeated record of 4-0.  The Pirates of Park University fall to 5-3 overall and 1-2 against conference foes.

Both teams were held scoreless through the first half with the Cougars posting seven shots compared to the Pirates who notched four.

Three minutes into the second frame, the Cougars Dylan Barduzzi was given a penalty kick.  Barduzzi’s shot attempt was blocked by Parks’ keeper, but Yudai Yamaguchi came charging in and was able to pass the deflection to Jordan Cox who put Columbia on the board.  The Pirates matched Columbia’s goal in the 74th minute when Park’s Ramone Palmer took a shot that was deflected off of two Cougar players and found its way to the goal.  Both teams were unable to score in the last 15 minutes, sending the competition to overtime.

In the 97th minute Columbia’s corner kick turned into a game winner.  Lloyd Jacobs served the ball and Nikola Velickovic got his first goal as a Cougar when he headed the ball into the upper corner.

Ken Searles posted yet another win in goal for Columbia, posting two saves in 97 minutes.

The Cougars return to action on Tuesday, October 13th when they travel to St. Louis, Mo. to take on Harris-Stowe State University in a 3 p.m. match.