MONTGOMERY, Ala. - Second-seeded Dalton State (13-2-1) escaped a valiant Faulkner (9-7) second-half rally while the sixth-seeded Eagles played a man down for the bulk of the outing to clinch the 3-2 victory in the Southern States Athletic Conference tournament semifinals here at the Emory Folmar Soccer Complex this evening.

The (RV) Roadrunners scored first just over seven minutes into the outing when Daniel Valenciano delivered a shot from the near post into the far corner netting on a Santiago Moore corner effort.

Dalton State was at it again five and a half minutes later when Justice Nmeregini collected a poorly cleared ball off a deflection near the backside post and fired it uncontested into the upper 90 of the frame.

Despite the 2-0 deficit, the biggest blow of the contest hit Faulkner hard in the 26th minute. After a scramble along the goal line just outside the goal box Mehdi Himmich was issued a straight red card when he went to strike a loose ball and made high contact with the diving keeper. The costly penalty left Faulkner a man down with 64 minutes still remaining in the game.

The Eagles battled hard, but sporadically, through the remainder of the first half, but an entirely different team stepped onto the pitch when the clock began ticking away the final 45 minutes.

Late arrivals to the match that failed to count the field personnel would easily have believed that it was Dalton State playing a man down. Faulkner was electric in the second period and absolutely dominated possession early on while orchestrating calculated and aggressive runs deep into Roadrunner territory. That surge finally paid off six minutes into the half when the Eagles shook the netting for the first time.

Ian Sagstetter delivered a beautiful through ball to Costa Whitehead who bolted along the near sideline before hammering a cross to Evens Alcide who was parked in front of the frame. Alcide rolled a shot under a leaping defender and around the sliding keeper to cut the deficit to one goal.

Just over 16 minutes later the Folmar Soccer Complex shook with the loudest eruption of the day when Mateus Cesar blasted a 25-yard rocket between the leaping keeper and crossbar to move the game into a tie.

After nearly 55 minutes of running a man up, however, the power play finally paid off for Dalton State. Moore escaped a tangle with the ball just outside the six-yard box and crossed it to a wide open Rury Alvarez who fired the game-winner by transitioning goalkeeper Diego da Silva.

The Eagles tried relentlessly to even the score once again, but the magic had run out.

"Unbelievable comeback guys, Unbelievable comeback," head coach Kyle Beard told his team after the game. "We were so close. You did everything you could possibly do to win that game. The odds were stacked against you and you let a couple of early goals in and a lot of teams would have been beat badly if that happened. But you came back and you took care of business. You have nothing to be ashamed of. That was unbelievable. That was unbelievable what you did tonight. You were a man down and you could have beat a team like that. You came together. I love the camaraderie, I love you fighting for each other and I love all of you."

Keeper da Silva (9-7) had nine impressive saves and allowed all three goals in the loss.

Cesar was later named to the all-tournament team.

The Eagles close the best season in program history at 9-7 overall and in their first-ever trip to the conference semifinals.