For various reasons, Mercer Island had Wednesday’s matchup with Liberty circled on its calendar.

Both teams came into the 3A KingCo contest undefeated in league play, and despite both squads missing players due to spring break, both were looking to gain ground in the competitive upper tier of their conference.

For 78 minutes, Liberty appeared poised to take control of the division. But in the blink of an eye, everything changed.

Getting a game-saving goal from Freddy Kleemann and another in overtime from Ryan Hill, Mercer Island pulled out a come-from-behind 2-1 overtime win over Liberty Wednesday night at Liberty High School.

The Islanders (5-1-2, 5-0-0) were nearly dead in the water, trailing the Patriots 1-0 going into the final two minutes of regulation and facing their first league loss of the season. But with a corner opportunity in the 78th minute, Daniel Espeleta found Kleemann, who put the ball into the net to tie the game and send the contest into overtime.

In OT, it was Kleemann again, this time finding Hill for the game-winning goal.

“Freddy did a great job waiting in the middle and saw that I was making one across the back line. [He] pops it over in between [the defense] and gives me a chance to make a play on the ball,” Hill said. “From there it was just muscle memory, I’ve hit that shot a thousand times on the training grounds. Inside left foot curler, found the side netting, perfect way to end the game.”

Mercer Island coach Colin Rigby called the win a “game that changes team dynamics.”

“During the regular season, we haven’t had as much adversity as I wanted and tonight, Liberty came out with a great performance and challenged us,” Rigby said. “We always get challenged here, but it’s a true testament to the team to be able to score one second-half goal and one overtime goal. [It’s] really impressive and it changes the tone of the team, scoring a goal like that and winning like this.”

It was a physical game on both sides, as the two teams fought for real estate atop their division. The contest saw two Mercer Island yellow cards for running into the keeper and featured plenty of fiercely contested balls, hard tackles and tugged jerseys.

Mercer Island played from behind throughout most of the contest, after a deep strike from Liberty’s Ethan Diaz sailed over the head of Mercer Island goalkeeper Matt LeProwse in the sixth minute, putting the Patriots (4-2-2, 3-1-1) in control 1-0.

“They got behind our midfield, found their target striker who’s a good player and we just didn’t close him down quick enough,” Rigby said of the play.  “If our defense steps up a little quicker, we probably can block that shot. But nonetheless, it was a good finish.”

The Islanders had opportunities of their own in the first half, but saw shots from Espeleta and Alexander Chung stopped by Liberty goalkeeper Quinn Magendanz.

Both goalies were active in the second half, with another deep Liberty shot sailing just high in the 47th minute and another shot from Diaz wide left minutes later. Chung and OShane Braidy had attempts stopped in the 53rd and 60th minutes, respectively, and the Islanders had a shot bounce off the left goalpost following a foul kick in the 64th minute. But neither team conceded a goal until Kleemann found the back of the net in the final two minutes.

With his overtime goal, Hill kept his five-game KingCo scoring strike alive after being held scoreless up to that point. But the Mercer Island striker said that statistic wasn’t what was on his mind after Wednesday’s win.

“The stat that matters is we’re now 5-0 in the regular season,” Hill said. “The goals are good and all, but looking back to last year, almost half my goals came in the postseason, so that’s not something I’m super worried about right now. It’s really just getting to the postseason and getting that [top] one or two spot in KingCo.”

Next, Mercer Island will host Bellevue at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 14 at Islander Stadium.