It was a "Battle Royale" at Friday's game against Berlin on our home field!  Mascoma jumped out to an early lead 7 minutes into the game with a Gabe Sperry goal off of an assist from Dylan Pelton.  Berlin put the Royals on our heels with 2 unanswered goals before the 35 minute mark making the score 1-2 with 5 minutes remaining in the first half. About 30 seconds later Mascoma's Dylan Pelton sank one in the back of the net after connecting on an assist from Brennen Murphy to tie the game at 2-2.  Berlin quickly scored to take the lead briefly, but Ben Seiler put a goal on the scoreboard with an assist from Garrett Davis to tie it up again 3-3 before half time.  This 5 minute scoring rally made for contagious excitement on the sidelines and on the field with a referee joking with the coaches on the sidelines at this point:  "The first team to get to 10 wins!"

The second half was a tremendous display of soccer skills with the emphasis on defense.  Berlin scored only 10 minutes into the second half and held that lead for 14 minutes before the Royal's Ben Seiler broke through with a goal to tie the game again at 4-4.  Regulation ended at a tie sending this emotionally charged game into overtime.  

At 2 minutes into overtime, junior Ben Schwarz scored the golden goal to end the game 5-4, giving the Royals our first win of the season.  The bench emptied to rush their teammates on the field, burying Ben Schwarz for a winning celebration in front of the goal!