Chapman Advances to Division III Semifinals : Men’s soccer: Panthers require penalty kicks to beat Ohio Wesleyan, 4-2, and gain entry to the final four.

Chapman reached another level Sunday, beating Ohio Wesleyan, 4-2, in penalty kicks, in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Division III men’s soccer playoffs.

Unlike Ohio Wesleyan, which was playing in a record 18th consecutive Division III tournament, Chapman is breaking new ground each time it plays, and in front of about 1,000 at Chapman, the Panthers advanced to the NCAA final four.

Chapman, ranked sixth in a Division III poll, will play top-ranked Methodist (N.C.) in a semifinal either Friday or Saturday at a final-four site to be determined today by the NCAA. Williams (Mass.) and Muhlenberg (Pa.) will play in the other semifinal. The final will be played the next day.

The Panthers, however, weren’t thinking much about next weekend on Sunday; they were busy celebrating. After Erick Hurtarte’s successful penalty kick clinched the victory, they formed a dog pile in the middle of the field.

Chapman goalkeeper Craig Bennett was on the bottom of the pile, which was fitting because he provided the foundation for the Panthers’ victory. Bennett had 14 saves in the 150 minutes of regulation, overtime and sudden death overtime and might have been the only one on the field feeling good about deciding the game with a shootout.

“He was so loose and ready,” Chapman Coach Gregg Murphy said. “That’s his character, and I think that paid off.”

On Wesleyan’s third penalty kick, Bennett guessed correctly and dived to his right to stop Jason Chiero’s shot. After Eddie Perez gave Chapman a 3-2 lead, Wesleyan’s Kevin Vorenkamp misfired over the goal and Hurtarte finished it with a low skipping shot into the right corner.

It was a frustrating end for Wesleyan (17-2-3), which had its season finished on penalty kicks for the seventh time in the past 10 years. The Battling Bishops had reached their hotel late Saturday night after their flight out of Ohio was delayed seven hours because of bad weather. But Wesleyan Coach Jay Martin said he wouldn’t use weariness as an excuse.

Chapman (17-3-1) woke up the Bishops quickly, scoring 3 minutes 43 seconds into the game. Hurtarte’s free kick from the right side found Dustin Kemmerer near the far post, and Kemmerer headed it in.

Wesleyan evened the score in the 39th minute on a goal by Obi Moneme. Moneme, who is in the pool of players from which the U.S. Olympic team will be selected, took a pass on a free kick outside the penalty box with a defender behind him, turned and beat Bennett.

Moneme, however, was rarely that open again and Wesleyan had only a handful of strong chances to score the rest of the way.

Chapman had numerous opportunities because of the way its midfielders and fullbacks were controlling play. Chapman was clearly the fittest team, a fact Wesleyan tried to make up for with frequent substitutions.

Early in the second half, Jason Hospedales hit the right post with a shot from close range. But Wesleyan turned away many Chapman attacks with strong defense and goalkeeper Justin Krueger, who made 15 saves.

In the first of four 15-minute overtime periods, Chapman’s Ryan Murff took a cross from Shawn Parchan and headed it in, but the officials waved off the goal, ruling that the crossing pass had broke the plane of the end line before reaching Murff.

Chapman had three good chances in the first of two sudden-death periods, but either narrowly missed the mark or were turned away by Krueger, who had nine saves in overtime.

“The guys worked extremely hard to get here,” Murphy said, “and they deserved to win today.”