Picture a basketball game where the defense keeps coming up with big stops. Instead of taking their turn on offense, though, the defensive team gets the ball to halfcourt, throws it back to the other team and says, "Come at us again."

After the Fighting Scots men’s soccer team scored in the 13th minute of their do-or-die regular season finale at Grinnell Monday, that basketball example was pretty much the scenario for the final 107 minutes of the match. Monmouth knew that it’s offense was not at full strength entering the match, so when junior defender Jonathon Williamson scored for a 1-0 lead, coach Rue Carthew and his squad were bound and determined to make that one goal stand up.

In Monmouth’s favor was the fact that they could afford a tie. The Scots entered the match with a 5-3 Midwest Conference record, while Grinnell was 4-4. A Pioneer win would give the hosts the tiebreaker over Monmouth and secure a berth in this weekend’s four-team MWC Championship Tournament. Any other result was good news for the Scots.

At halftime, the statistics were fairly even. Grinnell had outshot Monmouth 7-5 and held a 7-3 edge in corner kicks. The stats in the game’s final 75 minutes – the 45-minute second half and two 15-minute overtimes, were completely in Grinnell’s favor.

The Pioneers outshot Monmouth 17-0 after halftime and took 13 unanswered corner kicks. To Monmouth’s credit, though, only one shot found its target, as Josh Spencer scored in the 70th minute to knot the game at 1-1. The teams played 50 minutes of scoreless soccer from that point, but it was anything but boring, as the Scots fought off attack after attack by Grinnell with a postseason berth on the line.

"We faced a lot of pressure, oh my lord," said Carthew. "It was such an intense game, we only played one sub. We didn’t have (Jeff) Samp or (Zach) Hampson. I thought Mark Allen played a tremendous game, and so did Jon Williamson.

"It was a great game," concluded Carthew, who last guided Monmouth to the MWC playoffs in 1996. The Scots, who also qualified for the event in 1992 and 1994, have never won an MWC playoff game.

That could change this season, even though MC’s Friday opponent at 11 a.m., Carroll, defeated the Scots 1-0 on Sept. 23. Carthew was pleased with the draw, as he felt his team controlled play despite losing to the Pioneers. The 1:30 p.m. semifinal pits tournament host Lake Forest against four-time defending league champion Ripon. The championship match, with a berth in the NCAA tournament at stake, will be played at noon Saturday.