In the preseason poll for the new five-team men's soccer Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, UW-Platteville, UW-Oshkosh, and UW-Whitewater all received first-place votes.
With just one game left among the favorites, still nothing has been decided.
UW-Platteville and UW-Oshkosh battled to a 2-2 double overtime time in a strongly-contested game at Pioneer Stadium Sunday afternoon.
The Pioneers (9-8-3 overall) finish 2-0-2 in the WIAC, while the Titans (13-3-2) are 2-0-1. UWO plays UW-Whitewater, whom the Pioneers tied 1-1 on Sept. 30, next Sunday. Should the Titan-Warhawk game finish in a tie, UWP would share in a three-way title. Otherwise, Sunday's winner will be the first WIAC champion.
B.J. Gottschlich put the Pioneers on the board just 13:47 into the game, taking a centering pass from Tyler Holle and beating the keeper for his 11th goal of the year.
The 1-0 score stayed until 65:51, when the Titans' Will Howell converted a penalty kick after UWP was called for a hand-ball in the box.
Less than four minutes later, the Pioneers re-took the advantage. Mitch Cornelius penetrated deep into the Titan end, forcing keeper James Pike to come out and play. The ball rebounded to Kyle Hoerter, who blasted in a shot from the right side at 69:37.
The Pioneer lead was short-lived, however. Howell passed the ball from the end line back to the middle, where Robby Giljohann netted the goal at 73:28.
Both teams had scoring chances, but were denied by some stellar goalkeeping. Kris Bosshart, who finished his career as UWP's all-time leader in goals-against-average, made nine saves, including a point-blank stop of Musa Sowe in the second half. Pole had six saves, including one on Gottschlich with 23 seconds remaining in the second overtime.
The Pioneers saluted their four seniors at halftime. Bosshart, Dan Howard, Mario Millonzi, and Tyler Holle end their careers with the most victories (49) of any senior class in the 45-year history of the program.
