GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – Halil Yilmaz delivered a heroic hat trick in his Montana State University Billings debut Thursday afternoon at Maverick Field, lifting his team to a dramatic, 3-2 overtime victory over Texas A&M International University in the 2021 season opener.
 
The junior striker tucked the golden goal off the right post and into the back of the net with 10 seconds left in the first overtime period, prompting a wild celebration on the field as the 'Jackets won their season-opener for the first time since the 2012 campaign. "It was like fireworks exploding in my stomach, and I have never experienced anything like that before," said Yilmaz, whose last hat trick came during his U-19 academy season. "We don't play golden goal in Europe, so to win in the last second is something else."
 
"Going to overtime is never easy, but we found a way to score the third goal and win the game," said MSUB head coach Thomas Chameraud, who was a player on the field the last time MSUB claimed a victory in the opening game of a season. "What a great performance for Halil - three goals in his first game for MSUB. He was tremendous for us, but also it was a great team effort to come back three times and get the win. Mentally our guys were really strong."
 
Yilmaz converted a penalty kick in the 44th minute to give his team the lead, before scoring again in the 63rd minute to push MSUB ahead 2-1 midway through the second half. "Overtime is just about the team who wants it more, and we wanted it today," said the German international, who has been on the team's roster since the fall of 2019 but had not played in an official contest until Thursday. "I saw it coming the last couple of weeks through preseason, and this was the reward for the work we have been putting in for four weeks."
 
TAMIU's Kristian Colaci matched Yilmaz the first two steps of the way, as he scored both of the Dustdevils' goals to help keep his team in the match until the end.
 
Jeremie Briquet provided the assist on Yilmaz's winner, while Marvin Putu had the assist on the striker's second goal of the match. "It's great for the guys, because it was a long trip for us yesterday," Chameraud said. "The guys showed up today ready to play. I thought the first half was good, and we had good control of the ball. In the second half we didn't have enough possession, and they got control of the game. After they tied us it was a great reaction to score again. It was a story of staying as solid as we could, but unfortunately they scored a great goal in the top corner."
 
MSUB (1-0) earned a dangerous chance less than two minutes into the match, but a promising long free kick into the box from Mathias Kjølner carried just wide of the far post. Georgios Theodoulidis came up with his first big save of the match on an ensuing counter attack, sliding to his right to smother a shot by Yuki Tatsuma. The freshman shot stopper earned his first collegiate victory with three saves throughout his 100 minutes.
 
Yilmaz's first goal of the match was perhaps his easiest, as Paul Cuevas drew a foul on Dustdevil goalkeeper Natxo Faus inside the box to earn a penalty kick. The junior calmly converted from 12 yards out to push MSUB ahead 1-0 in the 44th minute. "In the first half we super dominated, and they didn't have dangerous attacks," said Yilmaz. "It was very well deserved for us going into halftime with the 1-0 lead. In the second half they started pressing higher, possession shifted a little bit, and they converted one mistake from us to a goal. What was impressive is we didn't get into a hole, kept going, and after that we scored the second one on a great assist by Marvin Putu."
 
The Yellowjackets maintained the edge in possession throughout the opening 45 minutes, and won four corner kicks while allowing two. TAMIU (0-1) leveled the score in the 60th minute, taking advantage of a defensive miscue. Johan Portales nudged a pass through the back line, and Colaci easily finished a shot into the lower-left corner of the net.
 
The 'Jackets nearly pulled ahead immediately after conceding the equalizer, as a deflected shot by Tybalt Thornberry required a leaping save by Faus. Yilmaz got on the end of an ensuing corner kick delivery, but his attempt carried off of the crossbar.
 
Yilmaz's brace came just two minutes after his near-miss on the corner kick, as Putu found him with a stellar cross-field pass from the right side of the pitch. Timing his run into the box perfectly, Yilmaz beat his defender and blasted a left-footed shot from a tight angle into the lower-right corner of the side netting.
 
Colaci nearly notched a brace in the 83rd minute, but his close-range header smashed off the left goal post as the 'Jackets dodged a bullet. Two minutes later however, the striker rescued his squad with a top-corner, left-footed strike from outside the box that left Theodoulidis with no chance to stop.
 
Colaci had a look at a hat trick inside of two minutes to go in the first overtime period, but Theodoulidis leapt up to snag his right-footed shot from the top of the box as it was headed for the upper corner of the goal. With time running low, Briquet found himself in space in the midfield and lofted a through ball past the back line and onto the foot of Yilmaz. An expertly-placed, curling strike with the outside of his left foot beat a charging Faus and ended the match.
 
TAMIU held a narrow 12-10 advantage in shots, while each team had five corner kicks in what was overall an evenly-played affair.
 
THE BUZZ: Yilmaz was selected as the St. Vincent Healthcare Player of the Game…it was MSUB's first hat trick since Oct. 18, 2018, when Ricardo Palomino scored three goals in a 4-2 win over Northwest Nazarene University…it was MSUB's first multi-goal game since both Christian Thode and Andres Perez scored twice in the team's 5-1 win over Saint Martin's on Oct. 10, 2019…it was MSUB's first golden goal since Sept. 29, 2019 when Austin Shafer scored in the 93rd minute of a 2-1 win over University of Mary…Thursday marked MSUB's first season-opening victory since the 2012 campaign…it was the fourth time in the last six seasons that MSUB's season-opener extended into overtime.
 
NEXT UP: The 'Jackets are back in action on Saturday afternoon, with a 1 p.m. kickoff at Colorado State-Pueblo. Live video will be available online here and live statistics will be available online here.