HAMBURG, N.Y. – Travis Hicks found the Hawks' lone goal as Hilbert College battled to a 1-1 double overtime tie against Penn State Altoona in men's soccer this afternoon.

With the tie, the Hawks grabbed one point to improve to 2-5-1 with one game remaining on their 2015 schedule.  Altoona jumped one point ahead of Medaille into fourth place with 14 points and trail La Roche's 15 points as all schools close their AMCC schedule next Tuesday.

Altoona opened and controlled the game well.  They held their shape with all their players on Hilbert's defensive side of the midline and made short passes to advance the ball.  Most restart kicks on their end of the field were taken by the Lions' goalie which pushed all ten players forward.

But Hilbert's defense unit came to play today.   Austin Mathis, Nicolas Rodriguez, Garrett Rehner and Nicholas Clay constantly stepped in and rushed the ball either gaining possession or breaking up plays.  Their presence was enough to interrupt the Lion's offensive flow.  The midfielders dropped back and helped double the ball at times which created a pace Hilbert liked.

Once Hilbert's backfield got the ball up the pitch, Matthew Buehlmann and Travis Hicks used their speed and determination to either make things happen or take angles away from the Lion's defenders. 

Case in point was in the 27th minute when the visiting goalie and his defender thought Altoona had full possession of the ball.  Hilbert served the ball up the middle of the field and the Lions goal keeper rushed out to grab it.  After possessing it for a few steps in the box, he dropped the slippery ball.  Hicks' heady play allowed him to one-touch the ball to the lower right corner at 27:39.

With a 1-0 lead at the break, Hilbert took the field with confidence the second half.  Altoona didn't reeve-up their engine until the 75th minute or so.  The Lions closed the game with their only tally at 87:13 when a served ball was chip-headed over the defender which lead to the game-tying score. 

In the 90-minute match, Altoona outshot the Hawks 14-10 with an 11-5 advantage in corner kicks.  

Ryan Valentine kept the Hawks alive when he made a save on a point-blank header in the 92 minute in overtime.  The sophomore goalie finished with nine saves on the day through the 110 minutes.

Hilbert's three seniors had great games.  Matthew Buehlmann played the full 110 and never stopped challenging the Lions even when he didn't get to the ball in time.  He never stopped running today.  Jonathan Davison had another super game with his pin-point passing, perfect field vision and physicality on defense.  And Austin Mathis never backed down from a charging Lion.  He forced sidelines or broke plays up with his body and feet and when the opportunity presented its self today, he rushed forward on offense.

Hilbert will close their season October 27th when they host the AMCC win-less Pitt Bradford (1-13-1) at 1pm.