The MNU Men's Soccer team secured their spot in the HAAC post-season tournament that starts next week. With a 1-0 victory over Avila University on Wednesday the Pioneers will go into the tournament as the #5 seed. They will play the #4 seed on the road on Monday, November 7th. That seed will be determined after the conclusion of the Graceland vs Benedictine game that will take place Wednesday evening.
The first half was a sorry affair for MNU. The guys never got into a rhythm and the game was not pretty. The weather, with a cold north wind along with rain, did not help things. Neither team scored in the first half. Avila hit the post on a header and MNU missed a sitter in the box, but other than that neither team created much.
In the second half, MNU came out much more focused. Just 1 minute 19 seconds into the half,
Luke Pontin scored off of a cross by
Cam Cundiff. This put the boys up 1-0 and things were looking better. MNU continued to create good chances throughout the half but could not finish. Avila was forced to play a man down for the last 25 minutes as they picked up a red card, and MNU was able to dominate the remaining portion of the game to earn the much needed win.
MNU moves their season record to 10-7-1. The conference tournament will be a win-and-move-on scenario with the winner of the tournament securing an automatic bid to the NAIA National Championship Tournament.
