LEBANON, Ill. | Leemon Field - McKendree University men's soccer (11-1-6, 8-1-4 GLVC), the No.4-seed in the Great Lakes Valley Conference championship tournament, defeated the No.5-seed Maryville, 1-0, on Sunday afternoon in the quarterfinal round. The Bearcats tallied an early goal from freshman midfielder
Jay Sangha and never looked back in the quarterfinal, defeating the Saints for the first time since 2018. McKendree heads to East Peoria for the GLVC tournament semifinal at Corwin Clatt Stadium on November 10. McKendree faces the top-seeded Prairie Stars of UIS in the semis.
Both Maryville and McKendree worked at a quick pace to begin the game, battling in the first half with three shots from the Bearcats and four via the Saints. In the 26th minute of the first half, the Bearcats pressed the Saints' back line, causing havoc with Sangha finding possession. The freshman took the ball to the center of the field and fired the shot into the lower right corner for the score. The goal was Sangha's third of the season and first since October 8 at Missouri S&T. The Bearcats led 1-0 at the intermission period.
McKendree held its lead with a bombardment coming from the Saints' attack in the second half, which found 11 shots being sent by Maryville. Freshman goalkeeper
Christian Herluf collected five saves in the contest while collecting his 12th shutout of the season, which extends McKendree's single-season mark.
NOTES
McKendree notched its first win over Maryville since 2018 and makes its way to the conference semifinals for the first time since 2019.
McKendree tallied its 12th clean sheet performance of the campaign, a single-season team mark while freshman goalkeeper
Christian Herluf owns the individual single-season mark as he's logged full-time this year.
Freshman midfielder
Jay Sangha scored his third goal of the year and his first collegiate game-winner.
UP NEXT | GLVC CHAMPIONSHIP TOURNAMENT
No.4-seed McKendree takes on top-seeded Illinois Springfield in the #GLVCmsoc semifinal matchup at Corwin Clatt Stadium on November 10 at 7:30PM. The Bearcats and Prairie Stars played to a draw in their regular season matchup on October 22 in Springfield, Illinois.
The 2023 GLVC Men's Soccer Championship Tournament will be held Nov. 10 and 12 at Corwin Clatt Stadium in East Peoria, Ill., after the quarterfinals on Nov. 5 are hosted by the top-four seeds. This is the first year the event will be hosted at this venue and a return to a neutral site for both the men's and women's tournaments since the spring of 2021.
Tournament information and bracket can be found via the GLVC's
Championship Central.
