Pioneers Advance to Title Game

The #7 Pioneers advanced to the HAAC tourney final with a 3-2 victory over #16 Missouri Valley on Tuesday. The Heart of America Athletic Conference has been one of the best Men's Soccer conferences in the country for years. You need to look no further than the pairings in the semifinals of the tournament to find the evidence. In the latest Top 25 poll, all four teams are nationally ranked; with 3 teams being in the Top 10. Semifinal #1 pitted #7 MNU vs #16 Missouri Valley. The two teams tied 3-3 earlier in the year. #8 Baker at #9 Benedictine is the matchup for Semifinal #2. Those teams tied 2-2 in their earlier meeting.
 
MNU got off to a good start in Tuesday afternoon's game at Pioneer Field. In the 6th minute, Niklas Larsson scored off a deflection to put MNU up 1-0. MNU had another great opportunity a few minutes later but Alvaro Beltran's volley was saved by the MVC goalkeeper, Josh Wells. The game began to change as the Vikings upped their pressure and MNU did not have an answer. Pinned in their own end for much of the half, it felt like MVC was going to tie the game. MNU's defenders were getting worn out with the pressure and halftime couldn't come soon enough. With just 1 minute remaining, MVC's Nick Alexander slotted a ball to the far post to tie the game at 1.
 
MNU came out strong in the second half. Just 6 minutes into the half, Eddie Morales restored the Pioneer lead. Atanas Karagyaurov's shot was deflected and Morales was there to blast the ball home from close range. Unfortunately for the Pioneers, the same pattern seen in the first half re-emerged. Missouri Valley went to high pressure and MNU wasn't able to deal with it. In the 65th minute, Joe Wareham finished a through ball that cleared MNU's back line to tie the game 2-2. But the flow of the game began to change again. MNU began to get forward and the back line did a great job of dealing with any chances that the Vikings created. With just 4 minutes left, the breakthrough came for MNU. A ball that was originally played out after a set piece was driven back in by Morales. Aurelien Norest and Beltran beat the offside trap and had a 2 on 1 vs. Wells. Norest played the ball to Beltran who placed the ball into an open net for the go-ahead goal. MNU hung on for the remaining minutes to take a 3-2 victory.
 
For the game MVC outshot MNU 15-13; SOG were 7-6 in MNU's favor. Wells for MVC was credited with 3 saves. Chris Eriksson made 4 saves in earning the victory. The Pioneers are now 14-3-2 on the year. MVC falls to 12-4-4 and will now wait to see if they are selected to the National Tournament as an At-Large team.

The #7 Pioneers are 14-3-2. The next match is the HAAC Tourney Final at home vs. #9 Baker (13-5-2) on Friday at 1:00.