08/01/09

08.01.2009 | Men’s Soccer

Courtesy of ERIC ANDERSON/www.wisconsinsoccercentral.com/

The Sonoma County Sol have been one of the top clubs in the National Premier Soccer League for all five of the amateur league's seasons.

Now the team from Santa Rosa, Calif., has a championship to prove it.

Tyler Hurst's 111th-minute goal gave the Sol a 2-1 extra-time victory over the expansion Erie Admirals in the NPSL final on Saturday night at Breese Stevens Field.

Sonoma County (17-2-4 overall, 13-0-3 NPSL), which lost in the inaugural NPSL final in 2005 and was ousted in the national semifinals the last two years, fell behind early on Saturday. Jeremy Deighton headed home his second goal in as many days for Northeast Region champion Erie (11-1-1) in the 15th minute off a cross from Arash Fahandezh.

But the West Region champions tied it just before halftime when Shawn Percell knocked the ball past Admirals goalkeeper Danny Mudd after a scramble in the box following Andrew Bailey's corner kick in the 45th.

Regulation ended with an amazing sequence in the final seconds of the 90th minute. Sonoma County forward Trevor Hurst lined up a bicycle kick from the top of the box, and with Mudd off his line, the ball appeared to be headed for the upper corner of the goal. But Mudd reached back and made a stellar play to tip the ball over the crossbar and send the match into 30 minutes of extra time.

Tim Maycock created Tyler Hurst's game-winner with 9 minutes remaining in the second half of extra time, running onto a long ball over the Erie backline, carrying it to the byline and squaring the ball back for Hurst to finish against Mudd from the top of the 6-yard box.

•Next year's NPSL Final Four reportedly will be hosted by Rocket City United in Huntsville, Ala. The semifinals will be played on a Thursday night, with a day off before the championship game on Saturday night. It will be the first time the finals will be played in the Southeast.

Tyler Hurst Scored The OT Game Winning Goal/Photo By Laura Arnold