Thanks in no small measure to Matt Ivie and D.J. Ward, Birmingham-Southern College will be playing for the Southern Collegiate Athletic Association's first playoff crown on Sunday.

Ivie scored four goals and Ward added three on Friday night, leading the Panthers to a 9-7 victory over Sewanee: University of The South in the SCAC semifinals at Colorado College's Washburn Field. The triumph vaulted them into Sunday's title contest at noon against undefeated regular-season champion and host CC.

Birmingham-Southern, which improved to 9-6 overall for the season, struck twice in the opening 3:25 of play to grab a quick 2-0 lead.  

But it wasn't until the 6:58 mark of the fourth quarter, when Ward beat Sewanee goaltender Tommy Healy from in close on the left side, that favored BSC went ahead to stay at 7-6. That was Ward's third tally of the contest, and when Ivie added his third just four seconds later, the Tigers were toast.

Ivie's fourth of the night iced the win with 9.6 seconds left to play.

Sophomore goalie Andrew Huffman backstopped the triumph with 12 saves in the Panther nets. Sewanee's Tommy Healy, a freshman, finished with 14.  

Healy's teammates rallied from their early deficit to pull even on goals 3:35 apart in the opening period by Thomasson, who had two goals and two assists for the night, and Brendan Eisenbrandt. After the teams battled to a 4-4 deadlock at halftime, the Tigers grabbed leads of 5-4 and 6-5 in the third quarter on tallies by Thomas Moore at 2:40 and Thomasson at 6:29.

Ward's second goal knotted the affair at 6-6 with 9:04 remaining.