Although it appeared that the Chaparrals would settle for the tie, the College of DuPage men’s soccer team claimed the win with the help of freshman Archie Murphy’s impressive freekick goal, with only four seconds left in the match.

“From the beginning, we believed that this was a game we could and should be winning,” said Murphy. “We never lost the belief that we could win, and I think that helped us know that we should be getting something from this game. After scoring, I ran straight to the corner flag and all the boys came on top. Honestly, it was unreal.”

After starting the game at a fast pace, Black Hawk College scored a penalty kick after a player was fouled inside the penalty box to give the Braves a 1-0 lead with 17 minutes left in the first half.

With only a minute left in the half, freshman midfielder Samuel Glogovsky found the back of the net after finding room for a shot to tie up the game 1-1 going into halftime.

“I felt happy scoring since we were 1-0 down,” said Glogovsky. “I was looking to make an impact and gave 100%. Throughout the 90 minutes, we were the better team and kept fighting.”

To begin the second half, sophomore midfielder Robert Keldani scored a long-ranged goal from outside of the box to give the Chaparrals a 2-1 lead and momentum over the Braves.

“Honestly, after scoring in the last two games, I was feeling it,” said Keldani. “I just believed in myself to take the shot and was able to score. Throughout the game, we kept our heads up and kept knocking on the door and ended up with the win.”

Later in the second half, sophomore Oscar Mastache was called for a controversial handball violation by the referee to give the Braves their second penalty of the night. BHC scored from the penalty kick attempt to make the game 2-2.

With less than a whole minute left in the match, Murphy’s freekick goal gave the Chaparrals a 3-2 win over the Braves to improve to 4-3-4. The sudden goal from outside of the box stunned the Braves and resulted in all the COD players running to the right corner flag to celebrate.

Despite nearly leaving the match with a tie, head men’s soccer coach Zac Ludwig was pleased with his players’ determination and effort to leave the stadium with a win at the end of the game.

“We were hands down the better team today,” Ludwig said. “I’m proud of the guys for sticking to the plan all the way through and ultimately getting the result. We create situations in training to create adversity and [learn to] overcome obstacles and control what we can control.”

The Chaparrals will take on Rock Valley College with a record of 8-5 at 7 p.m. on Oct. 11 at COD’s Bjarne Ullsvik Stadium.