HAYS, Kan. -- The Cardinal Men's Soccer team squared-off against Ohio Valley University on Thursday evening in the NCAA Division II Round of 16. After falling behind early on in the contest, Saginaw Valley wasn't able to come out on top and dropped a 1-0 decision to the Fighting Scots.
The Cardinals finish the season with an 11-3-6 overall record while OVU is now 18-5-1 and will move on the the national quarterfinals to face the winner of Fort Hays State and Northeastern State.
Ohio Valley took the early 1-0 edge in Thursday's match when Miguel Sarmiento drilled a long 25-yard shot that tucked into the top-left corner of the net for the goal. That came at the 12' marker of the game.
That allowed the Fighting Scots to sag back defensively early on, which they did effectively.
OVU allowed five total shots for the Cardinals the rest of the way with only one that was put on goal.
Saginaw Valley got a pair of shots from Michael Hamilton and he had the one on net that was saved. Wladimir Babaew, Michael Shaikly and Brady Walker had the other shots for SVSU.
The Fighting Scots put seven total shots up with four of those on goal in sealing the 1-0 shutout and a date in Saturday's 2 pm quarterfinal match.
Lukas Betz (10-3-5) made three saves for the Cards in his 90 minutes, allowing the one goal on the well-placed shot.
SVSU competed in the program's seventh NCAA Division II tournament and was in the nation's final 16 teams for the third time. The Cardinals claimed the 2018 GLIAC regular season championship for the fourth time in program history as well in 2018. The team graduates four seniors in Omar Sinclair, Brian Sockow, Jake Rosen and Michael Shaikly.
Postgame Interview
