In 2003, the Michigan men's soccer team upset Notre Dame in the second round of the NCAA Tournament in penalty kicks.

Seven years later, the hunters have become the hunted. But the outcome for the Wolverines is the same.

Overtime heroics by Michigan doomed Central Florida, which was hoping to upend the 10th-seeded Wolverines (15-4-3).

Michigan will now move onto the Sweet Sixteen. The team plays its next elimination matchup against host South Carolina next Sunday.

The Knights (12-5-3) took a 1-0 advantage into the locker room, despite being noticeably outplayed by Michigan in the first half.

“To Central Florida's credit, they didn't bunker in and just launch long balls and absorb,” Michigan head coach Steve Burns said on Sunday. “They looked to find that second goal against us.”

Due to stingy defense and a 31-17 edge in total shots for the Wolverines, that go-ahead goal never came for Central Florida.

At halftime, the team made several changes — some more trivial than others — to help stimulate a comeback.

Senior forward Justin Meram felt that a new pair of shoes was just what he needed to have a more fruitful second half.

“I just wasn't feeling it,” Meram said of his previous pair. “It was a good change-up.”

Indeed, it was.

Not even five minutes into the half, Meram sprinted towards a lead pass from senior midfielder Alex Wood and punched it in from 18 yards out, just past the extended arms of Knight goalkeeper Shawn Doyle.

Meram, who extended his goal streak to six games, attributed his recent success to his partners in crime. He and the Saad brothers refer to themselves as the “three amigos.”

“At first, I was trying to score on my own,” Meram said. “Now, I've changed my outlook on everything. With Soony and Hamoody on the attack ... no team can defend all three of us.”

Following the equalizer, the game's momentum swung away from Michigan — much in part to several seemingly impossible saves by Doyle.

The back-and-forth, up-tempo nature of the game continued to the end of regulation when the score remained deadlocked.

“We really needed to get balls into our forwards' feet,” Burns said. “We just felt we'd get a rhythm and get a lot more chances.”

After a Central Florida foul, such an opportunity presented itself.Hamoody launched the free kick from 35 yards out toward the goal, and just as the over-capacity crowd thought Doyle would make another one of his signature saves, sophomore midfielder Latif Alashe tipped it in for the game-winner.

“We just got lucky on that one and got it to actually go in,” Alashe said. “(Doyle) made a few great saves earlier. The luck just went our way, and it went in the net.”

The Michigan Ultras — the Wolverines' dedicated student section — exploded as Michigan made the field of 16. A huge following was present at the game and the enthusiasm of the group hardly went unnoticed by the Wolverines or the opposition.

“It's great for college soccer,” Knights head coach Bryan Cunningham said.

Michigan's next opponent, South Carolina, also squeaked by on Sunday. The seventh-seeeded Gamecocks broke a scoreless tie in overtime to defeat Duke.

This upcoming Sunday, in Columbia, S.C., the Wolverines will have their hands full. But, unless South Carolina can do something that few others have done and shut down the “three amigos,” Michigan may very well pull a minor upset of its own and continue its tournament run.