Butler survives vs Darton, now faces three-team playoff

MELBOURNE, Fla. - The Butler soccer team has kept its season alive at least for another day by drawing to a 1-1 tie with No. 4 Darton State (Ga.) before winning the penalty kicks by a 4-3 count on Wednesday in a drenching rainstorm at the NJCAA national tournament hosted by Eastern Florida State College.

Because each of the three teams in Butler's pool finished with a pair of ties - and because each team split penalty kicks with each other - there will be a three-team playoff on Thursday. 

Butler won the coin flip, which means the Grizzlies will await the winner of the Darton vs Owens match at 1 p.m. EST/Noon CST. The matches will consist of two 10-minute halves if needed, but are golden goal, which means the first goal ends the match. If a winner is not decided after 20 minutes, the match will go to penalty kicks. Once a winner is decided between Owens and Darton, that winner will face Butler in the same scenario. 

The winner of that playoff will be in the final four of the tournament, joining Iowa Western, Laramie County (Wyo.) and  Navarro (Texas).

The Grizzlies put themselves in the situation to force the playoff by scoring just eight minutes into the match. Brittney Lawrence penetrated the defense and played a cross into the box. The ball bounced off the Darton keeper before Morgan Foster tipped it Maddie Decker, who hammered it into the net for a 1-0 lead. 

The lead didn't last long as Darton took the reset, played a deep ball behind the Butler defense and put the ball in the net 10 seconds after the restart.

Neither team would score for the final 80 minutes, forcing the penalty kicks. Darton went first, and the attempt was blocked by Butler keeper Kelsi Langley. Langley also made a save on Darton's fifth attempt. Meanwhile, Morgan Foster, Brittney Lawrence and Paige Thompson made their attempts. The fifth round came down to Alyssia Salinas, who kicked the ball on the ground, putting it into the left side of the net and putting Butler in the playoff. 

Officially, the game goes as a tie, putting Butler's record at 21-2-2.