UTICA, New York – The University of Maine at Farmington's marvelous run through the North Atlantic Conference Men's Soccer Tournament came to an end in a penalty kick shootout loss to SUNY Polytechnic in the tournament's championship, Saturday afternoon at Wildcat Field.

The game will go into the record books as a tie, with SUNY Poly advancing on penalty kicks, 6-5. The Wildcats earned conference championship, along with the NAC's automatic qualifier into the 2021 NCAA Division III Men's Soccer Championship

Cade McHugh scored UMaine-Farmington's first goal in the game's 22nd minute, off an assist from Jimmy Pelletier. McHugh struck a loose ball inside the six-yard box past Wildcat keeper Daragh Foley, finishing off a pass from outside the box from Pelletier.

SUNY Poly knotted the game at 1-1 in the 65th minute with Wakeley Banker's unassisted goal off a penalty kick. Banker's PK attempt was stopped by diving UMaine-Farmington keeper Jonah Sautter, but Banker followed up to drive home the loose rebound for the goal.

Neither team was able to score in either of the two 10-minute overtime sessions, forcing the game to go to PKs to decide who would receive the NAC title and NCAA berth.

The UMaine-Farmington five of Pelletier, Gracien Mukwa, Silas Mohlar, Aric Belanger, and William Dowse all converted their PK attempts, only to see the SUNY Poly shooters respond in kind.

In the sixth round, McHugh's penalty kick attempt into the lower-right corner was stopped by Foley. That brought up the Wildcats' Matthew McCord as the shooter with a chance to win the game, and his shot toward the upper-left corner was deflected by Sautter, but the ball deflected off the inside of the crossbar and back into the UMaine-Farmington goal.

SUNY Poly finished the game with a 24-15 advantage in total shots, and took 12 corner kicks to UMaine-Farmington's eight. Sautter finished the game with four saves over 110 minutes in the Beavers' goal, while Foley was credited with five stops.

The Beavers' McHugh, Mukwa, and Sautter were all named to the All-Tournament Team.

UMaine-Farmington finished its 2021 season with an 11-4-2 overall record, giving the Beavers consecutive double-digit win seasons for the first time since the 2002 and 2003 campaigns.