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INDIANAPOLIS – No. 2 seed Bellarmine University defeated No. 1 seed McKendree University, 3-2, to win the 2019 Great Lakes Valley Conference Men’s Soccer Championship on Sunday, Nov. 17 at Woehrle Athletic Complex in Jeffersonville, Ind. The 12th-ranked Knights remained unbeaten this season at 16-0-4 and earned their program’s first GLVC Men’s Soccer Championship crown.
The 24th-ranked Bearcats struck first exactly 15:00 minutes into the match when senior forward James Stone won a scramble for the ball near the top right corner of the box and chipped it in. In the 27th minute, junior defender Eddie Williamson drove in a header off senior midfielder/forward Gilio Aviles’ corner kick to knot the contest at 1-all, which held up into halftime.
At 51:01, junior midfielder Collin Rose slotted the Knights’ second goal home after sophomore defender Nate Girao made a pass ahead to junior midfielder Micah Linscott, who tapped it off to a charging Rose. Just less than 30 minutes later, Bellarmine would notch its third and game-winning goal of the game at 79:13, becoming the first team to score more than twice against McKendree this season. The Knights earned a free kick from about 25 yards out, which was taken by Aviles and headed home by a diving freshman forward Juan Ballas.
McKendree would muster up one more goal in the 89th minute by sophomore midfielder Melo de Souza, who took a crossing pass from senior defender Javier Soto and deflected it just inside the right post. However, the Bearcats ran out of time to find the equalizer, as they finished with six shots to Bellarmine’s 15. The Knights also took seven corner kicks to McKendree’s none, while redshirt-junior goalie Pachu Cortazar made four saves in the loss.
The second-seeded Knights, which finally secured the Conference crown in their 28th and final appearance in the postseason event, continued its historical season that saw the most total wins in program history and the most Conference wins (10). Bellarmine also had an unbeaten regular season, and its undefeated streak dating to last season has reached 29. Moreover, the Knights have earned the league's automatic qualifying bid to the NCAA Division II Men's Soccer Tournament where they will play in their first-ever national tournament. Monday evening's NCAA Division II Selection Show starts at 6:30 p.m. ET where Bellarmine will find out its opponent.
The championship game can be replayed on the GLVC Sports Network by clicking the “On Demand” tab and selecting the match. Visit the official Championship Tournament homepage at
GLVCsports.com/2019soccer for more details.