After back-to-back home wins this weekend, the Dominican University men’s soccer team will be on the road this weekend, scheduled to play the Wheaton College Thunder at Loras College in Dubuque, Iowa, on Friday evening at 5:00 p.m. in the round of 16 in the NCAA Division III Men’s Soccer Championship.
 
The Stars (18-2-1) and Thunder (17-3-3) met early in the year, with Dominican posting a 2-0 win over Wheaton on the Stars’ home field in River Forest.  Since then, the teams have been neck-and-neck in the NSCAA Regional Rankings, finishing the regular season ranked first (Dominican) and second (Wheaton) in the Central Region.
 
The Stars, led by Ryan Roberts (Elmhurst, Ill.), boast the nation’s second most efficient offense, scoring 3.76 goals per game.  Roberts has netted a team-best 13 goals followed by Logan Marvin’s (Johnston, Iowa) eight goals after scoring five goals in the last five games, including one goal in each of the Stars’ wins last weekend.  Freshman Marco Alvarez (Aurora, Ill.), the 2012 All-Northern Athletics Conference (NAC) Second Teamer, leads Dominican with 12 assists and ranks second on the team with 26 points.
 
Defensively, the Stars rank 17^th in Division III with a 0.60 goals against average.  Dominican has posted 11 shutouts on the season and has surrendered more than one goal just twice this season, falling 2-1 to Hope College and 3-2 to Loras College, whom the Stars could face in the sectional finals if both teams advance.
 
The Thunder are averaging 2.39 goals per match while posting a 0.87 goals against average.  Sophomore Adam Blackman leads the Thunder offense with 11 goals and five assists for a total of 27 points while senior goalkeeper Ryan Seeger has started 21 games, posting a 15-3-3 record in goal with a 0.87 goals against average in nearly 2,000 minutes of action.
 
The Stars and Thunder have met a total of eight times, with the first meeting in 2003.  Dominican is 6-2-0 all-time against the Thunder and have won the last three meetings between the regional rivals.
 
The winner of Friday’s matchup will advance to the Elite Eight where they will meet the winner of the Loras College/UW-Platteville match which will take place at 7:30 p.m. on Friday night.  The winners will meet on Saturday, with a 6:00 p.m. kickoff scheduled on Loras College’s Bob Bierie Field. 
 
Tickets for both nights will be sold at the gate; $6 for general admission and $3 for students (kids age 6 through college) and senior citizens.  Children under six are free.