HANOVER, Ind. – The Hanover men's soccer team advanced to the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference Tournament Finals on Wednesday afternoon defeating no. 3 seed Transylvania, 2-1.
 
As a unit, Hanover tallied a game-high 10 shots with four landing on frame.
 
The Panthers got pressure in the early minutes as junior Xander Ochsner (Floyd Knobs, Ind.) fired a shot that was deflected by the Transylvania keeper when sophomore Joao Domenici (Alphaville, Brazil) looked to clean it up in front of frame but came up empty handed.
 
Domenici got another great look at frame in the 17^th minute as he got a free kick just outside the 18-yard box that pelted the crossbar.
 
He would finally find the back of the net in the 20^th minute off a penalty kick that propelled HC on top 1-0.
 
However, the Pioneers capitalized on a throw-in at the 26 minute mark that was chipped over the Panther defense for the tying goal, 1-1.
 
The scoring frenzy continued as sophomore Danny Tapia (Louisville, Ky.) entered the contest in the 38^th minute and played a ball to junior  Joel Yann (Louisville, Ky.) in the 40^th minute for the 2-1 advantage.
 
The second half opened very methodical as the Panthers looked to slow down play but the Pioneers had other things in mind as they pushed for the equalizer getting one final attempt on goal late that landed unsuccessful.
 
Junior Luciano Salemi (Indianapolis, Ind.) secured the win in frame as the Panthers advance to the HCAC finals on Saturday, Nov. 5 taking on the winner of no. 1 seed Rose-Hulman and no. 5 seed Manchester with the highest seed remaining earning the right to host.