Despite a quick opposition goal in the first 5 minutes of the game, the California Lutheran University Kingsmen Soccer team ended their Thursday night game against Chapman University with a 3-2 win in 90 minutes, plus some overtime.

Erick Mejia, defender and the first goal scorer of the night, said he knew he and his team had to continue to go strong until the very last minute.

“Knowing this game, we knew we had to continue going in strong and not putting our heads down. And that’s what we did, and we got the results,” Mejia said in a phone interview.

The Kingsmen were down 1-0 up until the 30-minute mark, when Mejia scored the first goal of the night for the Kingsmen, with an assist from his teammate, Michael Bogart.

“The ball just landed perfectly to me from Bogart, so I just kicked it and hoped for the best and it went in,” Mejia said.

The Kingsmen were tied at the end of the first half, but midfielder Giovanni Torres scored shortly after the second half started, creating a 2-1 lead.

Torres said he scored that goal for his mom.

“For me it was a little different just because I haven’t really seen my mom in a while and it’s her birthday today [April 15] and I promised her I would score for her. And thank God I was able to come through with that,” Torres said in a phone interview.

Chapman tied the game at 56 minutes, which sent the game into overtime.

Torres said he was a little nervous going into overtime because the game was so back and forth, but it made him come out even stronger in overtime.

“Going into overtime, it was a little nerve-racking because we came off winning 2-1, then to a tie, and that’s when we switched off,” Torres said. “That’s what’s been causing us goals this season, and I was just afraid we were going to shut off completely. But the guys were able to turn it around and come out hard.”

Just 9 minutes into overtime, Christian Gonzalez, first-year midfielder for the Kingsmen, scored the winning goal with an assist from Mejia.

“I was waiting there patiently, another ball comes in and I knew this was it. This was to finish the game. It landed perfectly on my head, diving header. As I turned around, I didn’t even have time to react. The whole bench and everybody was here and it feels great,” Gonzalez said in a phone interview.

The Kingsmen continued to fight until the last minute of the game. They knew it had to be a fight in order to get the win at last night’s game.

“As coach said when we were going into overtime, at this point, who has heart to win this game? Who has the passion? Who has the legs? Who’s going to fight the most? Because at the end of the day, the team that wants it more is going to win,” Gonzalez said.