WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. – It took three and a half hours and a venue change, but in the 106^th minute, senior Connor McNiff (Marietta, Pa./Donegal) headed in a corner kick to lift the fourth-seeded Lycoming College men's soccer team past fifth-seeded Lebanon Valley College, 1-0, in the opening round of the Commonwealth Conference Tournament.
 
The goal by McNiff, his third game-winner of the season, helped the Warriors (10-7-2 overall) win their first conference playoff game since a Freedom Conference semifinal in 2004. Lycoming advances to the Commonwealth Conference semifinals, where it will face top-seeded Messiah at 7 p.m. in Mechanicsburg, Pa.
 
"The guys were focused," Lycoming's first-year head coach Nate Gibboney said. "They got loose, went out and made a play. They were Warriors tonight."
 
The game started at 3 p.m. at Lycoming College's unlighted Shangraw Athletic Complex, but at the end of the first overtime period, the officials pulled both teams off the field with the game still knotted at 0. Thanks to the presence of Williamsport boys' soccer coach Lee Karr in the crowd, arrangements were made to move the conclusion of the game to the lighted Balls Mills Soccer Complex.
 
"That was one of the most bizarre occurrences I have ever seen at a game," Gibboney said. "One of the things we've talked about with the guys is to stay focused and control the things you can control. The darkness, the field, the location, you can't worry about any of that stuff. You have to do everything in your power to control what you control."
 
After an hour delay to move the game and get the teams warmed up, the game continued and Lebanon Valley (10-7-3 overall) continued to fire on goal, taking three of the team's 18 shots in the stanza. In the fourth minute of the period, Connor McDonald got inside the Warrior defense, but his shot flew high above the net.
 
Just two minutes later, the Warriors forced a corner and junior Luke Klingler (Bloomsburg, Pa./Bloomsburg Area) lifted a corner to the far post, where McNiff headed the ball across the goal line and deep into the net before it was kicked out. The official stopped play and the Warriors celebrated one of the more exhausting wins in school history.
 
"Before the game, I talked to Luke and we said, he was going to get a corner kick and he was going to find me on the far post," McNiff said. "There was a mad scramble and it just rolled in."
 
While junior goalkeeper Connor Keenan (Exton, Pa./Downingtown East) posted three saves in the first half, neither team had solid shots on goal. In the second half, freshman Mike Amaya (Stockton, N.J./Hunterdon Central Regional) got inside the defense on the left sideline and was pulled down, drawing a red card on LVC and forcing the Dutchmen to play a man down for the game's final 54 minutes.
 
Two minutes later, a foul inside the box set up a penalty kick, but the attempt was turned away by Lebanon Valley's James Clements, the second straight game that a Dutchmen keeper stopped a penalty shot.
 
From there, neither team had another solid opportunity until the venue change.
 
Keenan finished with eight saves in the seventh shutout of the season for the Warriors and Clements notched six stops for the Dutchmen.
 
Freshman Moises Lazo (Bowie, Md./Bowie) led the Warriors with four shots and Cam Alexander took seven shots for the Dutchmen.