Photo by St. John's Athletic Communications

By DYLAN BUTLER

Cradling the ball in his arms, Nelson Becerra had many thoughts swirling around his head. He was one penalty kick away from sending St. John's to the College Cup, from capping a remarkable comeback against Indiana and the crowd at Belson Stadium had erupted when referee Alex Prus pointed to the spot five minutes into overtime.

But first, the junior midfielder from Paterson, N.J. needed quiet.

"A lot of things went through my head," Becerra said. "There was a lot of pressure. I actually made the crowd keep it quiet for a little bit because it was too much…Anybody could have taken the PK, but I stepped up and grabbed the ball and wanted to hit it."

With all eyes on Becerra, the Big East Midfielder of the Year calmly deposited his penalty to the right of Indiana goalkeeper Chay Cain, sending the facility into euphoria and booking the Red Storm's College Cup ticket.

"It was a great feeling," Becerra said. "I never like that before in my life. I just kept running, looking for people to celebrate (with)."

Thanks to Becerra's goal, his team-leading eighth of the season, the third-seeded Red Storm will advance to the College Cup and face second-seeded Maryland in the second semifinal Friday at Pizza Hut Park in Frisco, Tex. Top-seeded Wake Forest and No. 13 North Carolina meet in the first semifinal.

The Red Storm (19-2-3) remained a perfect 12-0 at home this season, having rallied from a two-goal deficit by scoring twice in the final eight minutes of the second half to force overtime.

Five minutes into the overtime, Ale Ivo freed Ryan Soroka in on goal and his shot was stopped by Chay Cain, who made an acrobatic save. The rebound spilled into the right side of the box and Walter Hines pounced on the ball and sent it toward the open net. Indiana defender Ofori Sarkodie, who gave Indiana (14-7-3) the lead in the 36th minute, handled the ball on the line, resulting in a penalty kick and a red card.

"Nelson always wants to take penalty kicks," St. John's coach Dave Masur said. "We rotated it around a bit, but there wasn't anyone else who wanted it with the kind of confidence you needed in that situation…It was a great moment and a big moment and he came through fantastic for the team."

The Johnnies fell behind 2-0 in the 72nd minute on Eric Alexander's third goal of the season. Despite the two-goal cushion, Indiana coach Mike Freitag was concerned.

"There was a point in the game when we scored our second goal, I saw my guys, especially the guys on the bench, celebrating too much," he said. "I just knew what we were up against."

In part because of injuries to midfielders Trevor Chiduku and Pablo Punyed, Masur brought on Ivo and Walter Hines as part of three tactical changes in the final 10 minutes. Pushing 6-foot-3 Swedish defender Joel Gustafsson up front was the other.

And each move paid dividends.

Gustafsson headed in a Becerra cross at the far post in the 82nd minute to cut the Red Storm's deficit in half. It was the first goal Indiana conceded in the NCAA tournament.

"It was a great lift when we got the goal from Joel, great effort in sticking with it and some unbelievable perseverance, a little bit of energy and guys and making some decisions there at the end to keep the game going for us," Masur said. "It's just an unbelievable victory for all the guys on the team. I'm very proud of them."

That goal proved to be the turning point of the game as momentum switched to the Red Storm.

"I think it gave us a really good lift when Joel came (up top)," Sverre Wegge Gundhus said. "It really helped us that Joel came up and won the first balls so we could pick up the second balls. It was a relief."

Gundhus continued his NCAA tournament tear by scoring the equalizer with 2:03 left in regulation, his third goal in as many tournament games. Soroka played the ball to Hines, who had space to run after Hoosiers' defender Kevin Alston fell. Hines put in a deep cross that deflected off Cain and the Norwegian forward tapped in his fourth goal of the year.

Ivo, who started 16 of the Red Storm's 24 games this year, also made a massive difference, using his fresh legs to dart through Indiana's suddenly shaken midfield and backline.

"It was 10 minutes left and it was a sprint everywhere, 10 minutes of sprinting, 10 minutes of running all out," Ivo said. "It was on the line, everything we worked for this season, all the hours we've been with Coach, meeting, training, practicing since the summer, spring. Everything was on the line."

Ivo helped set up Becerra's golden goal with the initial pass to Soroka. After Becerra's goal, Ivo was overcome with emotion, holding his head in his hands while kneeling on the turf as celebrations erupted around him.

"It's a spot I've never been to in my life, my career," Ivo said. "It can be a once-in-a-lifetime thing, i can never happen again, nobody knows that…It's almost overwhelming."

Conversely, it was a bitter pill to swallow for Indiana, which has advanced to the College Cup in 17 of the last 36 years.

"I'm proud of my guys. I feel sorry for them, I'm saddened for them, but that's the way it goes," Freitag said. "(St. John's) obviously showed they have the character of a champion the way they came back tonight."