PARKLAND – Diego Aceves took the rebound off Bennett Bugbee's deflected shot a few yards out on the left side of the net and scored the Golden Goal game-winner in the second minute of overtime to give Pacific Lutheran a 2-1 come-from-behind nonconference men's soccer victory over Mary Hardin-Baylor Sunday.

"It was a very difficult game," PLU head coach John Yorke said. "It was physical and good competition, but I thought our guys showed good focus for the whole 92 minutes."

Physical would be an apt description, as the two teams combined for 37 fouls and six cautions. PLU continually held the offensive advantage, finishing the match with a 23-8 lead in shots that included a 16-5 advantage after halftime. Even so, a penalty kick goal by Mary Hardin-Baylor's Ben Hammond in the 55th minute gave the Crusaders the second-half lead.

"Even though there was some adversity in terms of calls or getting scored on, they were able to stay in there and stay focused and showed a lot of character to come back and win the game with two late goals," Yorke said.

Eddie Na tied the match in the 68th minute, taking a pass from Joe Sammartino in front of the goal and sending it past MHB goalkeeper Javier Zaragoza from about seven yards out to even the score at 1-1. That score held up for nearly 25 minutes, until Aceves netted the game-winner in the 92nd minute.

"John said that were going to have a chance in the first three minutes, and it came true," Aceves said. "When I saw Bennett's shot and rebound I just ran in as hard as I could, and luckily just tapped it and it was there. It was an opportunity, and I just took it."

Na and Aceves tied with a match-high five shots apiece, while Aceves and Bugbee each tallied two shots on goal in the win. In three overtime matches this season, the Lutes have now won two. Both wins have come on Golden Goals by Aceves following rebounded shots.

"This is a big lift," Yorke said. "It's a lot easier to go through the week on an overtime game-winning Golden Goal than it would've been to go in on a loss or tie, so I think it puts some energy into the group. We're still going to get better and better each day and each week as we find more chemistry with our new and old players, so I think this really spurs us on for this week and helps us get ready for conference."

Pacific Lutheran takes its 3-2 nonconference record into Northwest Conference play beginning Saturday at home. The Lutes will host George Fox at 2:30 p.m., with Pacific coming to town the following day for a 2:30 p.m. kickoff.