Oct. 29, 2014 By Justin St. Peter

As the saying goes, revenge is a dish best served cold. The Warhawks men’s soccer team gave the University of Chicago Maroons the main course on Oct. 25 at Perkins Stadium with a 1-0 win in double overtime.

The ’Hawks thought they had won the game last year on Oct. 26 on the road, only to have the Maroons tie it up with one second left on the clock in regulation time.

“Every game we play with them comes down to the last second or a really dramatic ‘could have went either way’ game,” head coach Tony Guinn said. “We thought going into the game that it was going to lead to a tie, until we scored the goal in the second overtime.”

With the win, the ’Hawks have won two straight games, and ran their unbeaten streak to eight games.

The ’Hawks came out firing, putting four shots on goal, before the Maroons had their first. Senior goalkeeper Josh Rohde had two saves at the end of the half to preserve the first-half shutout.

In the 47th minute, junior forward Sam Novak headed a ball towards the goal. It beat the keeper, only for a Maroons defender to stop it at the last possible second, thwarting the attempt.

“I thought it was in for sure,” Novak said. “It was pretty disappointing.”

Rohde and the ’Hawks defense survived the last few minutes of regulation by stopping two corner kicks and making a save to send the game into overtime.

After a quiet first overtime period, both the Maroons and ’Hawks had a chance in the second overtime period that just missed the net.

The ’Hawks struck in the 106th minute.

Senior midfielder John Gottwald took a free kick from 40 yards out. The ball floated and dipped into the box connecting perfectly with Novak’s head. The headed shot flew past the goalie and gave the ’Hawks the win.

“Sam Novak is very athletic,” Guinn said. “He literally just jumped higher than anybody in the crowd of probably 18 people. The goalie came out and Sam headed the ball beyond him into the back of the net.”

After scoring, the ’Hawks’ bench sprinted on the field to join the celebration.

“I didn’t know how to celebrate,” Novak said. “I just ran like crazy.”

The Maroons, ranked fifth in the Central Region according to D3soccer.com, fell to 8-4-2, while the ’Hawks, ranked fifth in the North Region, improved to 9-3-3.

Rohde recorded six saves in the game and improved to 7-2-2 on the year.

With the overtime win, the ’Hawks move to 2-1-3 in overtime on the season.

The ’Hawks will host UW-Platteville for the Shaymus Guinn Cup at 7 p.m. Oct. 31 at Fiskum Field

They will then wrap up regular season play with a game that could be for the WIAC conference regular season championship against UW-Oshkosh on Nov. 2.

“We have a very busy week ahead,” Guinn said. “We just have to try and stay focused when you have things like Senior Day, the Shaymus Guinn Cup and the intensity of all the matches that are coming up.”