Box Score
Kenyon 3, Ohio Wesleyan 2

Senior midfielder Lonnie Barnes (Champaign, Ill./Centennial) and freshman midfielder Will Sharer (Avon) scored goals as 17th-ranked Ohio Wesleyan wiped out a 2-0 deficit during the final minute of regulation time, but top-ranked Kenyon converted a penalty kick with :02 on the clock to escape with the win in the championship game of the North Coast Athletic Conference tournament on Saturday in Gambier.

The win gives Kenyon the NCAC's automatic qualifier to the NCAA Division III tournament, set to begin next week.  Ohio Wesleyan is in the running for an at-large tournament berth and will find out its playoff fate on Monday.

Down 2-0, the Bishops counterattacked and senior midfielder Ricarda Balmaceda (Houston, Texas/The Village School) sent the ball to senior forward Brian Schaefer (Chatham, N.J.) on a diagonal run.  Schaefer passed to Barnes, whose shot hit the left corner of the Kenyon goal with :59 to play.

Ohio Wesleyan got the equalizer shortly thereafter when junior back Nick Norman (Cincinnati/Oak Hills) played the ball to junior forward Kyle Baum (Powell/Olentangy Liberty), who sent the ball on to Sharer, with Sharer's shot finding the back of the net to tie the score at 2-2 with :30 to play.

After the ensuing kickoff, Barnes was whistled for a foul and Kenyon was awarded its second penalty kick of the day, which Jeremiah Barnes converted with :02 to play.

The teams battled to a scoreless tie at halftime.  Lee put a shot on goal that Clougher stopped in the 13th minute.

At the other end, junior goalkeeper Ben Farynowski (Grandview Heights) denied a shot by Kenyon's Tony Amolo in the 16th minute and snared a header by Woo Jeon in the 33rd minute.

Farynowski came up with a save on a penalty kick by Josh Lee in the 41st minute, keeping the game scoreless heading into the intermission.

Kenyon took the lead in the 57th minute when Amolo hit a shot from outside the box.  The Lords increased the lead to 2-0 just under 2 minutes later when Barnes crossed the ball to Henry Myers for an 8-yard header.

Schaefer teed up a shot in the 72nd minute that Clougher saved, and that would be the Bishops' only shot until the frantic final minute of regulation time.

"That had to be the weirdest final minute ever," said Bishop head coach Jay Martin.  "We played a good first half, but didn't play very well in the second half.  I was proud of the team -- they didn't give up, and kept fighting and fighting and fighting, and we tied it up.

"It was a great championship game, but it was unlucky that it ended the way it did."

Kenyon outshot Ohio Wesleyan, 14-9.  Farynowski finished with 5 saves for Ohio Wesleyan.  Clougher had 2 saves in the Kenyon goal.

Box Score