Michigan senior forward Justin Meram crowd surfs in the Michigan student section after the Wolverines' 2-1 overtime victory over the University of Central Florida on Sunday.

Lon Horwedel | AnnArbor.com

It didn’t matter that the Michigan men’s soccer team outshot the University of Central Florida, 12-3. It didn’t matter that Michigan had 14 corners to UCF’s five and for the majority of the game controlled possession.

After 90 minutes, and with the score tied 1-1 in the second round of the NCAA tournament, sudden death overtime would determine who would advance to the third round.

All that mattered was who would score.

Four minutes and eight seconds into the first overtime session, Hamoody Saad sent a left-footed 40-yard cross off a free kick from the right sideline and into the penalty area. Latif Alashe out jumped a pair of Knights defenders and flicked a header past Knights goalkeeper Shawn Doyle for the game-winner in a 2-1 Michigan victory.

Alashe was mobbed by teammates around the goal, while Saad turned to the Michigan student section with his hands raised.

"I felt like it’s overtime and everyone wants to win the game, so everyone’s just going in and getting that extra inch to get a tip on it, and I feel like Latif really wanted it,” Saad said. “This keeper liked to come out and punch every ball out, so I just put it right in the middle, and I felt like somebody could get a flick in.”

“I thought it was kind of coming my way, so I just tried to get position on the guy that was marking me and then just get up as high as I could for it,” Alashe said. “I think we got a head on a few other ones before, I think that time we just got the luck we needed for it to actually go in.”

The No 10 seed Wolverines advance to play No. 7 South Carolina - which beat Duke 1-0 in overtime on Sunday - in Columbia, S.C., on Nov. 28.

The set piece which would lead to Saad’s service came after freshman midfielder Fabio Pereira was tripped from behind by Spencer Scott, who was carded on the play.

“We were a little lazy on that recovery run on that backside and, unfortunately, gave up the foul that led to the goal,” said UCF coach Bryan Cunningham.

Michigan (15-4-3) had four shots on goal to UCF’s one in the first half, but the Knights (12-5-3) made the most of their opportunity as Conference USA leading goal-scorer Nick Keown-Robson gave the visitors a 1-0 lead in the ninth minute. Keown-Robson was able to tap the ball past Michigan goalie Chris Blais after AJ Nelson flicked a long throw with his head to the back post right where Keown Robson stood unmarked.

Despite many opportunities for Michigan in the 36 minutes that followed in the first half, UCF - which had lost just one game all season in which it led at at any point - took the 1-0 advantage into half.

Michigan took a different approach in the attacking third in the second half, getting more people involved instead of depending on forwards to beat defenders one-on-one.

“We knew we were finding that one diagonal to Justin (Meram), but that was kind of one dimensional, and we really needed to get balls in to forwards feet,” said Michigan coach Steve Burns.

Meram took the change in tactics one step further, switching from his all-white cleats to a yellow pair at halftime. The switch worked, as Meram tied it for the Wolverines less than five minutes into the second half. It was his eighth goal in six games.

Senior midfielder Alex Wood stole the ball at midfield and led Meram into the box. Meram took one touch around his defender before shooting past Doyle.

“I just wasn’t feeling it,” said Meram of the cleats switch. After his goal, the he pulled up his jersey to reveal a T-shirt with happy birthday wishes to his older brother scribbled on the chest. “We were just down their throats after they scored. I think it actually helped us play better after they scored."

For the 10 minutes that followed Meram’s goal, the momentum belonged to UCF.

“Even though we were up a goal at halftime, I though Michigan had the better of the game,” Cunningham said. “Conversely, I though we had more of the game in the second half, but really didn’t get much from it.

The final 30 minutes of the game, Michigan continued to press, but Doyle made save after  save.

In the 65th minute Wood took on three defenders and got off a low shot to the far post, but Doyle fully extended and punched the ball away. In the 73rd minute, Soony Saad capped a string of six consecutive passes with a shot from just outside the 18-yard box, but Doyle jumped and punched the ball over the net. Five minutes later, it was Soony Saad with another shot from just outside the 18, this time with Doyle well out of position, but the Knight’s goalie was able to recover andmake the save.

Doyle finished with 11 saves.

“From a fan’s perspective, I think you could get pretty tight and you might think this might not be Michigan’s day, but I never got that on the bench. And on the field these guys certainly didn’t feel like that,” Burns said.