PELLA — For the second time this season, the Central College men's soccer team took advantage of overtime to knock off an Iowa Conference opponent by upending Wartburg College 3-2 on Tuesday.

In overtime, the Central (11-6-0, 5-3-0 Iowa Conference) offense fired off a total of four shots but it was the fourth attempt by defender Kiel Pederson (sophomore, Arlington Heights, Ill., John Hersey HS) that struck gold for Central.

"He hit a beautiful curling shot into the upper corner with his off-foot," coach Garry Laidlaw said. "Anytime a back can chip in with a goal, that's really helpful to a team. Kiel's a fantastic kid who works his socks off. I'm so happy for him."

In the first half, two goals by Wartburg sandwiched Miguel Pina's (sophomore, Chicago, Ill., Taft HS) team-high 11th goal of the season. Taking a long pass from the left flank by Pederson, Pina got just enough of his head on the ball to send it past the goalkeeper.

"The build-up on that was great," Laidlaw said. "Kiel picked out a cross and Miguel tucked it away nicely. He has scored a number of goals with his head this year."

The game was pushed to overtime courtesy of forward Bryce Leonard's (junior, Williamsville, Ill.) long free kick that evened the game at 2-2 in the 76th minute.

"He caught it cleanly and sweetly," Laidlaw said. "It was a beautiful strike. We needed him to do that and he showed up for us today.

Central's final place in the conference standings will not be determined until late Tuesday night, but they are guaranteed a spot in the conference tournament. In the coaches' preseason poll, Central was projected to be one of three programs on the outside looking in at the league tourney.

"We reset our goals after the conference tournament to try and finish above .500 in conference," Laidlaw said. "Considering the strength and depth of or league, it's a credit to our players.

"We're not done yet. We're going to show and up and play tough on Saturday. We don't think we're an easy out for anyone."