TERRE HAUTE, Ind. - An unlikely hero emerged and helped send Midway to the semifinal of the River States Conference Tournament for the first time since 2017.

After a 1-1 game went through two overtime periods and into penalty kicks, Fabian Garcia delivered the clincher as the fifth-seeded Eagles held a 5-4 edge to eliminate No. 4 Saint Mary of the Woods in the opening round of postseason play.

Midway opened PKs with keeper Landon Sorrell denying Jacobo Galvez. The Eagles offense started with three consecutive conversions by Lucas Perrotte, Tomas Sarmiento and Blake Warner.

The Pomeroys converted four-straight shots after an initial miss, and after the Eagles were denied on shot four, Saleh Ekuchi evened things 4-4 with a conversion.

Immediately after, Sorrell came up big again, correctly predicting that Marc Valderrama would attack to his right and making a diving stop.

That paved the way for Garcia, a player who'd seen just 23 minutes of action during the regular season, to clinch the match.


Despite his relative inexperience on the season, Garcia approached with the strut of a homecoming king and fired a shot high into the net just under the cross bar before quickly being mobbed by elated teammates as well as head coach Stu Riddle, who he tackled to the ground.

The win came on a night in which the Eagles were out-shot by more than a 2-to-1 rate (27-13) but were able to take the win thanks to a great effort by Sorrell, who finished with 11 saves.

Perotte also had a great moment in the sixth minute, converting a free kick from nearly 40 yards out over the head of Saint Mary of the Woods keeper Harry Jackson. Midway held the lead for over 70 minutes before a great pass on a free kick resulted in a Jaime Gayol Pertierra goal.

The last time the Eagles advanced beyond the opening round of the RSC Tournament, they were defeated 3-2 in PKs by West Virginia Tech in the championship match.

Fittingly, this season's semifinal game will be on the road at West Virginia Tech. The No. 1 seeded Golden Bears come in ranked 18th in the country following a 14-0-2 regular season in which they were 9-0 in conference play.

Saturday's game in Beckley, W.V. will kick off at 5 p.m.