ST. LOUIS – The Lake Erie College Storm men's soccer team faced off against the #5 seeded Illinois-Springfield Prarie Stars in the Sweet Sixteen round of the 2022 NCAA DII Men's Soccer tournament on November 17. Lake Erie would play another exciting match and knock off the Prarie Stars in penalty kicks.

Illinois-Springfield would come into the match after having beat #4 Tiffin in the Round of 32 by way of penalty kicks and looked to take down another G-MAC opponent in back-to-back rounds. This endeavor would not get off to a great start as the Storm would strike first with eight minutes remaining in the first half on a goal by Teddy Baker that was assisted by Gio Da Costa. Just five minutes later, the Prairie Stars would tie it back up on a goal of their own.

The second half would remain scoreless and the match would advance into overtime. At the end of the first overtime with less than a minute left, Connor Mautino would score and give the Storm the lead once again. All that was left was for the Storm to hold off Illinois-Springfield for 10 minutes in order for them to advance.

Lake Erie would play great defense during the second overtime but a costly penalty in the box by Fabian Kiessetz would set the Prarie Dogs up for a penalty shot which they would put into the back of the net with under a minute to go in the second overtime. Neither team would score again and the game would head to overtime for the second straight game for the Storm.

Illinois-Springfield would take the shot first and successfully convert. With their first shot, the Storm would send up Alex Saggese but he would fail to score and the Praire Stars would also miss their shot. Teddy Baker would line up for the second shot and it would be stopped. Fortunately, the referee would say that the Prarie Star's goalkeeper failed to have one foot on the line which would give Baker another attempt which he would nail, tying things up 1-1. Illinois-Springfield and Lake Erie would both score their next two and the Prarie Starts would make their fourth shot, putting them up 3-2. This would bring Tom Akinola up with the fate of the game in his hands. Akinola would come up clutch and nail his shot, tying things at 3-3. Illinois-Springfield would make their next one and Connor Mautino would convert his as well, sending the game into sudden death. Tomas Wronblewski would come up clutch and stop the Prarie Stars shot, setting up Marcos Somohano for the game-winning kick which he would make.

The Storm now move on to the Elite Eight for the first time in school history where they will face the winner of the Maryville and Wisconsin-Parkside on Saturday, November 19 at 2 PM Eastern Time.