Granville, Ohio- After 110 minutes of back-and-forth play, the DePauw men's soccer team came out on top when sophomore goalkeeper Sam Ortner saved back-to-back penalty kicks to help lift the Tigers to a 4-1 PK victory over the Big Red in the North Coast Athletic Conference Championship matchup.
 
This is the Tigers' third NCAC tournament Championship and will mark its 13th NCAA tournament appearance in program history. With today's 1-1 tie and 4-1 PK determination, DePauw improved to 10-4-6 for the season and an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, while Denison dropped to 12-1-6. The Tigers will learn who they draw in the NCAA tournament on Monday, November 11, at 1:30 p.m., for the NCAA tournament selection show. 
 
Denison's Henry Heyes put the Big Red on the board first in the 20th minute when he redirected a shot off the crossbar by Cameron McIntosh to put Denison up 1-0. Throughout the first half, Big Red held DePauw to just one shot and three corner kicks; however, in the second half, the Tigers came out with energy, putting the pressure early and forcing a crucial own goal to tie the game in the 46th minute of play. From then on, the two teams fought for position to put the game away; however, the backline of each team stepped up and extended the game to what would ultimately be PKs. 
 
Stepping up first was sophomore AJ Hockstok to put DePauw up by one, then Ortner stepped into the net and saved the Big Red's Jake Krueger's PK attempt. The Tigers' second goal was put away by Braden Murphey, followed by another save by Ortner. Goal number three was scored by senior Emiliano Quintanilla, giving DePauw a definitive 3-0 lead. Henri Heyes scored Denison's lone PK goal; however, a minute later, DePauw's Sebastian Leon scored the game-winning PK, giving the Tigers the 2024 NCAC tournament championship title. 
 
First-years Julian Bell and Harrison Engel, seniors Alec McCarty and Ethan Webster, and Ortner were all selected to the NCAC All-tournament team, with Ortner earning the top honor of tournament MVP after tallying nine saves across the semifinal and championship games.