THOMASVILLE, Ga. – The Thomas University men's soccer team survived what could have been their first defeat of the 2015 campaign this evening defeating the Crusaders of William Carey University in a come-from-behind 3-2 victory in double overtime.
 
Junior Severin Abt had a career game for the Night Hawks collecting his first collegiate hat-trick.  The German put Thomas on the board first in the eighth minute when Jonathon McGrath tapped a cross across the box where Abt placed a one-timer into the upper left hand corner of the net (video).
 
In the 12th minute, the Crusaders would net the equalizer when Mitchell Blair headed a corner kick by Joaquin Ruiz Cabello.  Just 60 seconds later, Night Hawk defender Andrew Berg would receive a red card forcing the Night Hawks to play a man down for the rest of the contest.
 
William Carey took the 2-1 lead in the 35th minute on a Daniel Gudmundsson header and carried that momentum along with the lead into the intermission.
 
The Night Hawks netted the equalizer in the 81st minute when Abt blasted a penalty shot straight up the middle to tie the game at 2-2 (video).
 
Still playing a man down, the Night Hawks dominated the last nine minutes of regulation to push the game into to overtime.  The Crusaders, who had six shots in the two overtimes combined, had several opportunities to put the game away, but freshman keeper Ben McFarlane-Barnes stood strong in goal. 
 
With 4:35 left in the second overtime, the Crusader defense pulled a Night Hawk down from behind just inside the box setting up a penalty shot for Thomas.  With two goals in the match already, Abt lined up the penalty shot and converted his third goal of the night for the hat-trick (video).
 
With the 3-2 victory, the 11th-ranked Night Hawks improve to 4-0 on the year while William Carey drops to 2-3.

"It is disappointing when individual decisions have a negative effect on the task at hand," stated head coach Ricky Zambrano.  "We cannot put ourselves in that position.  However, our players picked up their teammate today and overcame a terrible first half to pick up a deserved victory."
 
The Night Hawks are back in action on Sat., September 12, as they travel to Daytona Beach, Fla., to face former Sun Conference foe Embry-Riddle.  First touch is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.
 
For up-to-date information on this game and other TU Athletics, visit http://www.TUNightHawks.com. Stay up-to-date with news, scores, photos, game summaries, play-by-play, and feature stories of your TU men's soccer team by following them via Twitter at @NightHawksMSocc.