The St. Lawrence men's soccer team successfully came back from two separate multi-goal deficits on Saturday afternoon and battled Wheaton College to a 5-5 tie on the road.

Luis Jimenez led the Saints with two goals, while Charlton Kelly, Brendan McNamee and Jethro Dede also scored for St. Lawrence. Dede's goal in the 85th minute completed the comeback to force overtime.

"The team showed incredible resilience and character today," head coach Mike Toshack said. "To come from behind 3-0 and 5-3 and score five goals in the second half is a huge accomplishment."

The Saints trailed 2-0 at the half and Wheaton extended the lead to 3-0 with the first of Amara Sesay's three goals for the Lyons in the 52nd minute.

Just over two minutes later, Kelly put the Saints on the board and sparked the offense with the first of three goals in less than three minutes to tie the game. Jimenez's first of the game in the 56th minute made it 3-2 and McNamee's second of the season 54 seconds later served as the equalizer.

But Wheaton and Sesay found a way to get behind Saints goalkeeper Mike Smith to regain the lead, first with a header off a corner kick in the 61st minute and then on a penalty kick in the 70th to make it 5-3 in favor of the home team.

Jimenez's second of the day on a header inside the box pulled the Saints back within one again in the 76th minute. Captain Rob Brandell set up Dede for fifth goal in the 85th to force overtime.

Each team recorded a shot in the first overtime, while the Saints had three chances in the final 10 minutes. They finished with a slight 26-25 edged in total shots, though Wheaton led in shots on goal 16-6.

Smith finished with a career-high 10 saves for St. Lawrence in the tie, including five in the second half and two more in the second overtime.

The Saints are now 0-1-1 on the year, and will continue their non-conference schedule at the Oneonta Tournament next weekend with games against Oneonta and Rhode Island College.

"We have a young team and a lot of our young players gained great experience this weekend," Toshack added. "We will keep building on that experience as we prepare for our next game."