The Hamilton College men's soccer team rallied for a 2-1 overtime win over Middlebury in the semifinal round of the NESCAC Championship Saturday in Amherst, Mass. The Continentals will face host Amherst, the tournament's top seed, Sunday at noon in the championship game with the NESCAC's automatic bid to the NCAA playoffs at stake.

The fourth-seeded Continentals will be playing for their first NESCAC title; they're now 10-6-1 after beating Middlebury (the sixth seed) for the first time ever. The Panthers, who were ranked 19th in the latest national coaches poll, fall to 10-4-3.

The Continentals posted their second straight 2-1 overtime win in the NESCAC Championship and Eli Morris '18 scored his third career goal 4:28 into the first overtime session to send Hamilton to the title game.

Linds Cadwell '20 made a career-high 10 saves in goal to earn the win.

Morris' goal was his second in as many games. He one-touched an Alex Cadet '17 corner kick into the right corner of the net.

The teams traded goals 2:38 apart midway through the first half. The Panthers got on the board first, taking the lead on a goal by Greg Conrad at the 19:34 mark. The play started in the team's defensive third when Drew Goulart carried the ball over midfield and centered a pass to Daniel O'Grady, who directed a shot from outside the penalty area. Cadwell stopped O'Grady's shot but Conrad controlled the rebound and scored his fifth goal of the year.

Hamilton's tying goal came 22:12 into play on a header by Jefri Schmidt '20. Schmidt's goal came as he redirected a long entry pass played by Mike Lubelczyk '17. The goal was Schmidt's fifth this season, matching Lubelczyk (who's scored a team-best 14 points this fall) for the team lead.

Greg Sydor tied a season-high with eight saves for Middlebury, who was outshot 17-14.

Cadwell thwarted a pair of quality Panther scoring chances in the final 20 minutes of the opening period. He punched a shot by Ben Potter wide of the right post on the first bid and made a diving stop on a shot by Goulart from the left side.

The Panthers almost regained the lead three minutes into the second stanza when Goulart took a shot from the top of the arc that Cadwell pushed over the crossbar.

In the 53rd minute, the Continentals nearly went ahead on a shot from the right side by Lubelczyk, but Sydor dove to his right to make the save. Minutes later he directed a header by Schmidt over the crossbar.

Middlebury produced another chance in the 70th minute when Adam Glaser ripped a shot from the left side that Cadwell denied with a diving save.

The Continentals will be facing the defending NCAA champion in Sunday's final. Amherst, the host school and top seed for this weekend's semifinals and final, advanced to Sunday's title game by scoring twice in the final eight minutes of regulation to knock off Bowdoin 2-1. Amherst is ranked second nationally and is 15-1-1 on the season. In the regular-season meeting between the two, Amherst (then ranked 16th) posted a 2-0 win over visiting Hamilton on Oct. 8.

Hamilton is making its second appearance in the NESCAC postseason tournament since the men's soccer team joined the conference in 2011; in 2013, the Continentals lost a quarterfinal game at Amherst 4-1.