DEKALB, Ill. – Sophomore Max Voss (Huls, Germany/Staedtisches Gymnasium Herten) scored in the final minute of double overtime as the Northern Illinois University men's soccer team closed its season with a 2-1 victory over West Virginia on Saturday night at the NIU Soccer Complex.

As the clock ticked under a minute to play, freshman Christian Molina (Katy, Texas/Mayde Creek) played a long cross to Voss inside the 18 and the NIU sophomore midfielder scored at the second attempt from just inside the six-yard box to send the Huskies into delirium.

"This was a well-played game by both teams," said NIU head coach Eric Luzzi. "Credit to West Virginia, they came in here in the top-30 in the RPI, and they are a very good team. There was obviously a lot at stake for them, so I was very proud of our guys that they came out and played for well over 90 minutes with intensity and quality when there wasn't a lot at stake for us.

"The way it unfolded, I couldn't be happier for the guys. I thought we deserved it. There were a lot of things about our season that we wish would have gone better, but I think this shows that we had a good team this year, we just needed breaks in some moments, and tonight we got those breaks and it was a great result."

West Virginia created the only real scoring opportunity of the first half in the 29th minute as a shot from Heath Honold forced a good save from NIU junior goalkeeper Drew Donnally (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield North) at full stretch.

Donnally finished the night with four saves.

The Mountaineers opened the scoring in the 60th minute on a goal from Felix Angerer. Lucas Logan played a ball from well inside his own half and Angerer just beat the offside line, finding himself in alone on goal from over 30 yards. Angerer got just inside the box and slotted a shot through the legs of Donnally and into the net to give West Virginia a 1-0 lead.

NIU equalized just less than 20 minutes later as Molina scored his first goal of the season. Off a corner kick from senior Richard Hall (Billericay, England/The Billericay School), fellow senior Adam Lightner (O'Fallon, Mo./Fort Zumwalt West) rose highest and headed the corner off the post. The ball rebounded back into the box where Molina was the first to make clean contact, nodding the ball into the back of the net to equalize for the Huskies in the 79th minute.

Just three minutes later, the Huskies nearly went in front as a great cross from Hall found junior Giovanni Garcia (Chicago, Ill./Elk Grove) all alone in the box, but Garcia's header went just over the bar.

In the first overtime period, Molina had the lone look at goal for either team with a shot that was straight at West Virginia goalkeeper Jose Santos.

Early in the second overtime, Rushawn Larmond had a shot for the Mountaineers that went wide as West Virginia, with its NCAA Tournament hopes on the line, pushed for a winner. Jad Arslan had a saw his header go wide and Joey Piatczyc had a shot saved as the Mountaineers continued to push.

West Virginia had a corner kick with just over a minute to play; the Huskies cleared the corner and countered, with Molina finding Voss for the game-winner with less than a minute left to give NIU the 2-1 victory.

Prior to the game, NIU honored its five seniors, Daegan DeBono (Lapeer, Mich./Lapeer West), Richard Hall, Albert Levett (Southend-on-Sea, England/Belfairs High), Adam Lightner and Cody Witkowski (Batavia, Ill./Batavia), all making their final appearance for the Huskies.

"I'm going to miss those guys," Luzzi said about his seniors. "Five guys that, to a person, poured 100 percent of their heart and soul into our program for the last four years. They are a great group, great players, great young men, great leaders, and they are definitely going to be missed."

With the win, NIU finishes its season 2-10-4, 1-3-1 in Mid-American Conference play, one spot ahead of West Virginia who closes its league slate 1-4 (8-7-1 overall).