Grantham, PA - No. 16 Calvin College scored once off a corner and another time off a set piece to rally from an early 1-0 deficit and stun No. 4 Messiah College on Friday night in the NCAA Sectional Semifinals. Bobby McCaw and Jacob Witte tallied the goals, with McCaw's goal tying the score in the 65th minute and Witte's giving the Knights the win with less than three minutes to play in double-overtime.

The win for the Knights moved them into Sectional Final where they face No. 14 Franklin & Marshall tomorrow night at 5:00 p.m.

Calvin's come-from-behind victory also ended the Falcons' season at 19-1-3, an impressive bounce-back campaign after Messiah missed the NCAA Tournament last season. Despite the run into this year's NCAA Sectionals, Messiah will undoubtedly think of what could have been as Jacob Bender put the hosts up 1-0 in just the eighth minute of play. Messiah's Kirby Robbins also came inches from tallying on two separate occasions in the first-half, but the missed opportunities remained an afterthought in a hard defeat.

The best of those two chances by Robbins came in the 23rd minute when Messiah pressed up the left side in transition. A quick pass by Nick West led Robbins into the box for a one-on-one strike against keeper Nate Van Ryn, but his one-touch shot went directly into the sprawled out legs of Van Ryn for the hard-luck miss.

Nevertheless, despite not adding more, Messiah still held that 1-0 lead into the second-half, and the minutes were slowly ticking away. As the clock went into the 64th minute Calvin earned a corner-- just of the second of the game by either team-- to set up the equalizer. Matt Hinds sent an in-swinging serve to the far side of the box where McCaw snuck in from the weak side to put a sharp header over the goal line. The tally was sudden and somewhat surprising as it came cleanly amid the crowded box.

With that goal on the board, the teams continued to battle for every inch of the field. The remainder of regulation was contested end-to-end, but even Messiah's best two chances were shots way over the crossbar from difficult positions.

In the first overtime Calvin outshot Messiah 3-0, though the battle from 18 to 18 continued to be the story. In the second overtime, Messiah started with better run of play, and even appeared poised to win the game when, just seconds into the final session, West turned into the box on the left and served a short pass to the middle of the goal. That offering was cleared away, but West took it back a second later and quickly dropped another pass from the end line to the middle of the goal. This time, Calvin managed to clear it out and press out of further danger, and the game played on.

In the 108th minute a Messiah foul in front of the Knights' bench set up the game-winning goal. Stephan Hooker lofted a long free-kick to the six-yard line where Justin Brautigam was able to knock it down. But a group of Messiah and Calvin players all lost their step for a half-second, giving enough time for Witte to reach out and fire the loose ball past keeper Connor Bell.

The second goal, like their first, appeared both quick and in slow motion at the same time, with Messiah left wondering how such a look was found. The goal also ended the game, with Calvin piling up in the corner in celebration.

The NCAA postseason loss for Messiah on Shoemaker Field was just the third since the turn of the century, the other two also being overtime defeats: 2-1 (in double-overtime) to Redlands in the 2001 NCAA National Semifinal; and 1-0 to Neumann in the 2011 Second Round.

Still, as mentioned, Messiah's season was nevertheless admirable considering the rebound from a 14-5-1 campaign in 2015 that saw the Falcons on the outside of the NCAA for the first time in 19 seasons. This year marked 27th all-time appearance in the NCAA Tournament, and the 18th season in which Messiah advanced to the Sectional Semifinals/Third Round.