In an overtime thriller, the Peacock men's soccer team picked up their third straight win to start the 2017 season on Thursday afternoon in Marquette, Mich. against Northern Michigan University in the first-ever meeting between the two schools. Upper Iowa led at halftime, but relinquished their lead in the second half when the Wildcats tied the game early in the second half. Despite being nearly doubled up in shot attempts, UIU found a way to score with two minutes remaining in the first overtime to earn the walk-off win. With the victory, the Peacocks start their season 3-0 for the first time since 2015, when they started 7-0-1.

"Our main goal today was to get a result away from home and we accomplished that," said Head Coach Willie McGowan. "Despite some difficulties early on we were able to figure things out and get the win in over time."

Northern Michigan controlled the ball in terms of shot attempts for the majority of the first half. The Wildcats held a 9-2 advantage in shots, and placed four of them on goal. The Peacock defense, as it has through the first two games, was remarkable in the opening 45 minutes. Senior goalkeeper Connor Rortvedt picked up four first-half saves behind the play of his backline. The UIU offense found a way to take the early lead as well.

In the 17th minute, redshirt senior Fausto Ordenana received a pass from Italo Martins Soares and pushed it through the back of the net to give the visitors a 1-0 advantage. Ordenana's first goal of the season came from Martins Soares' first assist of the season. UIU has had excellent ball movement on the season, picking up assists on all but one goal scored. The Peacocks took their 1-0 lead into halftime, but the home team was not done.

Upper Iowa outshot NMU 5-4 in the second half, but the Wildcats capitalized 10 minutes into the period. In the 55th minute, Sam Popp scored off a Kevin Hoof assist to tie the game, and the game reset at that point. It was back and forth the remainder of the half, but neither team could capitalize in regulation. UIU had three shots saved by the opposition, and the two teams went into overtime.

In the extra period, Northern Michigan got the first two shots off to try to win the game, but it was Rortvedt who came up with a pair of clutch saves to keep the game tied. UIU finally got their chance on offense, and took full advantage. The lone shot attempt in the OT for UIU came from freshman Dylan Mientus. Mientus took a pass from Carlos Giron and sent it through the back of the net for the game-winner, and his first career goal. Again, another assist came into play for Upper Iowa, as they earned their third straight victory.

"We showed a lot of character and spirit to get through this game as we finished without two of our starters due to injury," McGowan added. "That meant our bench had to step up and they did just that combining for the winning goal."

For the game, NMU nearly doubled UIU in shots, 15-8, including 8-5 in shots on goal. Rortvedt finished with seven saves, and moves to 3-0 on the season in net. Missed opportunities hurt the home team as well, as they could not capitalize on a 6-2 advantage in corner kicks as well.

Upper Iowa will nine days off until they take the pitch next on Saturday, Sept. 16. UIU will head to Bismarck, N.D. to take on Montana State University BIllings at 3 p.m. Two days later, UIU will stay in Bismarck to match up with the University of Mary on Monday, Sept. 18 at 12 p.m.

"With a few days off before the next trip we'll look to work on a few aspects we were poor in today, get the guys rested and healed, then look to kick on to our next game," McGowan said.