AMHERST, Mass. – After 110 minutes of scoreless soccer, Connor Keefe scored the decisive penalty kick in the shootout round to give sixth-seeded Bowdoin College a thrilling victory over fourth-seeded Middlebury College following a 3-2 decision in penalty kicks in Saturday afternoon's NESCAC men's soccer semifinal contest at Hitchcock Field.

Bowdoin improves to 9-6-2 on the season and advances to the finals to take on second-seed Amherst College (13-1-3) at 12 p.m. at Hitchcock Field. The Polar Bears are making their first appearance in the tournament title game since the 2010 season. Middlebury, which will await a possible at-large selection to the NCAA Division III Championship, moves to 9-3-5 overall.

After a tightly-played 90 minutes of regulation, followed by back-and-forth action in two 10-minute periods of extra time, Bowdoin edged Middlebury in the penalty kick shootout round, 3-2.

Polar Bears' net-minder Stevie Van Siclen made a terrific diving stop to his right to get the shootout started, and Bowdoin's Kiefer Solarte scored his take to give the Polar Bears a 1-0 edge. After a miss from both sides, Noah Goss-Woliner leveled the round at 1-1, before Eric Goitia buried his try to give Bowdoin a 2-1 lead. A save each from Van Siclen and Middlebury goalkeeper Greg Sydor set the stage for the Panthers' Deklan Robinson who converted his shot to even the shootout at 2-2. Keefe then narrowly beat the dive of Sydor to give the Polar Bears a hard-fought victory.

Middlebury edged Bowdoin in shots 13-10, while the Polar Bears held a 6-3 advantage in corner kicks. Both Sydor and Van Siclen made a pair of stops during regulation, while Van Siclen turned away a pair of shots in the second overtime period.

Following the first period of overtime, the Panthers produced two terrific opportunities to score through a shot by Greg Conrad, and a header by Tom Dils, but Van Siclen was there with a pair of crucial saves, the second of which was a diving stop on his own goal line, to keep the score knotted at 0-0. Bowdoin's most threatening opportunity came in the 96th minute of action when Thomas Henshall blasted a shot from the right wing that glanced off the crossbar.

Bowdoin will look to avenge a regular-season loss to Amherst, 1-0, on September 13. The Polar Bears will be looking for their first NESCAC Championship in their third appearance in the title match.