Tweet #theGAC  SEARCY, Ark. – For the second time in as many Great American Conference Men’s Soccer Championship games Ouachita overcame a first-half deficit as the Tigers captured the title, 3-1, against top-seeding Harding on Sunday from Harding’s Stevens Soccer Complex.
 
Tournament MVP Michiru Forbess netted a pair of goals off free kicks to lead Ouachita (9-7-1). He scored the tying goal in the ninth minute of the contest from just outside the 18-yard box and added his second on a blast from 25 yards out in the 60th minute for the game’s final tally.
 
Harding (7-7-4) opened the scoring in the eighth minute when Braeden Grundy scored his sixth goal of the season, off of a pass from Julio Martins. He beat Edward Pacheco with a low blast.
 
Ouachita’s Blake Beshirs converted a penalty in the 38th minute to give the Tigers the lead. The victory gave the Tigers their second GAC Championship in the three-year history of the league. They claimed the inaugural championship, on its home soil, in 2015.
 
In addition to Forbess, GAC Goalkeeper of the Year Edward Pacheco, Offensive Player of the Year Tinashe Chigede, Tyler Mouton and Blaine Hickman placed on the All-Tournament Team for Ouachita. Pacheco made 12 saves and produced a 1.83 goals-against average in the two wins.
 
GAC Defender of the Year Aaron Craig and Van Thang earned joined Grundy on the All-Tournament team for Harding.
 
Oklahoma Baptist’s Thiago Dos Santos and Luis Romero plus Southern Nazarene’s Pedro Garcia and Erik Fernandez rounded all the All-Tournament Team.