Goalkeepers rarely get assists, but Jared Dietzman got a big one Thursday.

Dietzman’s punt fed Jacob Dellamuth’s winning goal with less than three minutes left to lift the Tomah High School boys soccer team to a 2-1 victory over La Crosse Logan in the third-place match of the Mississippi Valley Conference tournament at Tomah’s Veterans Park.

It was a big victory for the Timberwolves, who finished fifth in the MVC standings but moved up in the tournament after winning two of three matches.

Thursday’s match appeared headed to overtime until the 78th minute, when Dietzman scooped up a routine loose ball in the goalkeeper’s box and launched a long, towering punt toward the center of the field.

Dellamuth pounced on the ball, got ahead of three Logan defenders and pushed a short shot to the right of the Logan goalkeeper.

“Jared Dietzman played a great ball out of the net,” Tomah coach Scott Conzemius said. “Logan’s defense didn’t do a good job of clearing, and Jacob saw the seam and took advantage of it.”

Both teams scored in the first eight minutes, and it remained deadlocked at 1-1 for nearly 70 minutes after that.

Logan scored the first goal on a shot that went off Dietzman’s fingertips, hit the right crossbar and ricocheted into the net for a 1-0 Logan lead.

The Rangers’ lead lasted less than three minutes. Ryan McCarty jumped on a Logan turnover deep in the zone and pushed a low breakaway shot to the left of the goalkeeper to bring the Timberwolves back to even.

Dellamuth nearly gave Tomah the lead in the 17th minute when he powered a hard shot off the goalkeeper’s right shoulder.

Tomah had two chances to take the lead in the second half prior to Dellamuth’s goal. Dellamuth shoved a hard shot just to the right of the goal in the 56th minute, and Dellamuth and Cory White came tantalizingly close to converting a 2-on-1 goal in the 74th minute.

Conzemius likes the direction his team has headed down the stretch. After starting off 0-5-2, the Timberwolves are 6-3-1 in their last 10 matches. He said the Timberwolves’ recent play gave them momentum heading into the Logan match.

“We knew if we came out and played well, we a had a chance to get a good result,” Conzemius said. “We struggled to finish on offense, but the defense played really well.”

Because of its rough start, Tomah drew a low seed and tough opponent in the first round of the WIAA playoffs. The Timberwolves got the 15th seed in the Division 1 Middleton Sectional and will travel to Badger North Conference champion Waunakee for a regional semifinal Tuesday. The match begins at 7 p.m. at Waunakee High School.

Tenth-seeded La Crosse Central plays at seventh-seeded Onalaska Tuesday, and the two winners play at the site of the higher remaining seed Thursday.