The Dominican University men's soccer team was tripped up in the championship match of the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) Tournament, falling to the MSOE Raiders 3-1 on Saturday afternoon in Milwaukee.  With the loss, the Stars drop to 12-5-3 on the season, falling for the second year in the NACC Championship match after winning the first eight tournament championships in NACC history.
 
After the teams felt each other out for the majority of the first half, MSOE was awarded a penalty in the 44^th minute after the Stars were called for a handball in the box.  The Raiders' Logan Andryk, the 2015 NACC Offensive Player of the Year, took advantage of the opportunity, converting the PK for his 20^th goal of the season.
 
The Raiders added to their lead in the 67^th minute when Dominican was whistled for another handball in the box.  Andryk was the beneficiary of the call, tallying his league-leading 21^st goal of the season on the ensuing penalty kick.
 
Dominican drew within a goal in with 13 minutes to play when Fernando Telles (Carpentersville, Ill.) was able to flick Nestor Ascencio's (Streamwood, Ill.) corner kick service inside the far post for his second goal of the season but MSOE closed out the scoring when Braden Andryk got loose up the right flank in the 82^nd minute, sliding a shot inside the far post for an insurance marker.
 
"We beat ourselves today," commented Erick Baumann, the Stars' head coach in his 21^st season, following the match.  "You can't spot any team a two goal lead on two penalty kicks and expect to win; especially against that team."
 
Dominican had a couple of chances that the Stars just couldn't finish.  The best came with the match still scoreless in the 22^nd minute when Alex Rohder's (Orland Park, Ill.) header popped over the crossbar with MSOE's Sean Stelter caught off his line.  Early in the match, Rohder had a header off a corner sail wide and early in the second half, Dominican's Iven Hernandez (Antioch, Ill.) got on the end of service from Frankie Saiz (Naperville, Ill.), but could not get enough pace on the ball to drive it past Stelter.

 MSOE held a slight, 14-11, advantage in shots, putting seven on frame compared to five for Dominican.  Stelter and Dominican's Gabriel Gongora made four saves apiece while Dominican out-cornered the Raiders, 7-3.
 
"This match was a mirror image of what we struggled with a lot this year," said Baumann. "We just made things too difficult on ourselves too often.  This is a young group that experienced a lot this year that we can learn from and be better because of it moving forward."
 
Dominican's season ends without a trip to the NCAA Division III Men's Soccer Championship for the first time since the Stars became eligible for NCAA postseason action in 2002.  Coming into the season, Dominican's stretch of 13 consecutive national tournament berths was tied for the second-longest active streak in the country with Trinity University (TX) and trailing just Messiah College.