MILLIGAN COLLEGE, Tenn. (Oct. 14, 2015) â€" Each of the Buffaloes top three goal scorers in 2015 netted important goals as they led the Milligan College men's soccer team to a 3-2 overtime victory against Bluefield College Wednesday evening at Anglin Field.

Zana Ali and Jonathan Colson both provided match-tying goals for the Buffs in regulation, setting up the game-winner for Tapiwa Kaseke, which he delivered with a header with 1:44 remaining in the first overtime period.

Ryan Reilly provided the game-winning assist on the final play of the match, while Nick Smith made seven saves in goal to pace the Milligan defensive effort. Offensively, Ali led the Buffs with three shots, while Colson and Kaseke each added two.

With the victory, Milligan improved to 4-9-1 overall and 3-2-1 in the Appalachian Athletic Conference with its second straight AAC victory and fourth consecutive overtime match. Bluefield fell to 4-9 overall and 0-6 in the AAC, and has now lost six of its last seven matches.

After the Buffs controlled the early tempo of the match and had a number of opportunities from their trio close to or in the Bluefield box, including two header opportunities from Ali and another from Jesse Ramoya, Bluefield began to press the issue around the 12-minute mark. The Rams started with a corner kick that led to a number of chances from the Milligan box, all leading up to the first goal of the match by Nikolai Solomon off the pass from Erik Albarran at the 9:25 mark.

Milligan responded with a quick answer from Ali, who gathered a loose ball in the box and fired a rocket over the outstretched hands of the Bluefield keeper, Oscar Hernandez, to tie it up with 7:15 to play in the opening half.

The Rams, however, came out of the locker room strong with a score from Florian Gleissner as he beat Smith just over two minutes into the second half. Gleissner fired five shots on the night, four of which were on goal, including one less than three minutes after his goal that required a diving save by Smith.

The Buffs nearly converted the equalizer as Reilly shot a free kick over a wall of Bluefield defenders that hit the corner of the crossbar at the 28:05 mark in the match. Ten minutes later, Milligan had another chance as Anthony Walker crossed the ball into the box to Ali, who just had it knocked away by a Rams defender and harmlessly into the waiting arms of Hernandez.

Bluefield nearly made it a two-goal match as at the 7:40 mark, Jean-Emmanuel Ahouman put up a shot that was saved by Smith but deflected to Felipe Milanez, who fired another shot with Smith out of the picture, requiring a goal-saving block from Thomas Suits.

Thanks to its strong defensive play, the Milligan offense answered the bell as Colson netted the tying goal off a penalty kick where he calmly approached the ball before slicing it into the right corner of the net past Hernandez with 3:12 left in regulation.

Colson's goal was his team-leading 10th of the season, while Ali and Kaseke each recorded their sixth.

With the postseason approaching and AAC matches becoming even more important, Milligan previously played to a one-goal overtime loss, a 2-2 draw and a 6-5 double overtime victory in its last three matches.

Next up, the Buffs will travel to Laurinburg, North Carolina, to face St. Andrews University on Wednesday, Oct. 21, at 2 p.m.