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AUSTIN, Texas – JACK BLANTON's penalty kick goal in double overtime gave the 13^th-ranked St. Edward's Men's Soccer team a 1-0 victory over Texas A&M-International in the Heartland Conference Tournament Championship Saturday afternoon at Lewis-Chen Family Field. The title is the second-straight for the Hilltoppers, coming after the squad went unblemished on its way to the regular season title.
 
In the first half, St. Edward's (15-2-2) put the pressure on early. In the fourth minute, senior ADAM BONVILLE's shot from distance hit the left post. He followed a minute later with another shot that was wide left. The Hilltoppers outshot the Dustdevils, 4-2, in the first half.
 
In the second half, St. Edward's started with pressure again. The home team rattled off five shots in the first 20 minutes of action.
 
At the 75-minute mark, TAMU-International gained a cornerkick. Off that kick, Josiah Benjamin sent a header on goal that was saved off of the goal line by a Hilltopper defender. Just moments later, Angel Robles picked up his second yellow card and was ejected from the game leaving the Dustdevils a man down for the rest of the contest.
 
TAMU-International thought they had a goal in the 83^rd minute when forward Ryan Hodgson got past Hilltopper goalkeeper KEVIN LEIB. The keeper forced him wide enough of goal that when he got his shot off, defender OWAIN HOSKINS was there to clear it away.
 
St. Edward's scrambled in the waning minutes of regulation as it got off three headers with one of them on goal. The game headed to overtime.
 
Fresh off of a penalty kick win in the semifinals when they were also down a man, the Dustdevils were hoping to get past overtime for the same chance.
 
St. Edward's had two chances in the first overtime. A TAMU-International defender saved DYLAN ARMSTRONG's shot in the 99th minute and PABLO COVARRUBIAS's attempt was saved by the Dustdevil goalkeeper in the 100^th minute.
 
In the second overtime, TAMU-International's Aaron Zuniga was whistled for a foul in the penalty box. Blanton stepped up and tallied his fourth penalty kick goal of the season. It was also his fourth game-winner of the year.
 
"I am really happy for all of the players and staff who put together a great preseason, regular season, and finished the Heartland with another perfect record," head coach Brian Young said. "I am hopeful the NCAA will award the team with another at-large bid to the tournament for the second-straight season. It's been great winning our fourth Heartland Conference regular season title in a row. At the beginning of the season we had four goals as a team, and now we are down to just two. Our body of work should provide us with a chance to chase our two remaining goals."

Members of the All-Tournament include Hilltoppers, JOSH TAYLOR, GRANT MOBLEY, KARL DE ZOETEN, and Armstrong. Blanton was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player.
 
St. Edward's will now wait and see what the NCAA Regional Committee decides as to where they wind up for the NCAA Tournament. The selection show will air Monday at 6 p.m. EST on NCAA.com The Hilltoppers were selected as the top-seed in last year's NCAA South Central Regional.