The Dominican University men's soccer team earned its 14^th trip to the NCAA Division III Men's Soccer Championships, topping the MSOE Raiders 2-1 at West Campus Field in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) Tournament Championship to claim the conference's automatic bid to the national tournament.   With the win, the Stars—ranked third in the Central Region in last week's NCAA regional rankings—improve to 14-4-0 on the season, claiming their ninth NACC Tournament championship since 2006, first since 2013.
 
After Dominican had a couple of early chances, one banging off the crossbar and two others saved by MSOE's Riley Bruce, the Raiders opened the scoring in the 14^th minute when Brandon Herman headed in Sean Tabbert's corner kick service.  The goal was the fifth of the season for the Raiders' senior.
 
MSOE continued to take it at the Stars throughout the first half, getting off nine shots through the opening 45 minutes and forcing Dominican's Brendon Martin to make two saves to keep the score 1-0 at the half.
 
"We never really got things going in the first half today," commented Erick Baumann, the Stars' head coach since 1995. "We never settled into our game or any type of rhythm. We had a couple of chances, including two off the crossbar, but didn't help ourselves going into the half down."
 
Dominican came out with energy in pace in the second half, pressuring the Raiders' backline on every clearance, eventually breaking through when Nestor Ascencio blocked a clearance near the top of the 18-yeard box, took one-touch forward before beating Bruce with a bouncing shot to the far post from 21-yards out, less than three minutes into the half.
 
With the visitor's on their heels, the Stars continued to keep the pressure on, winning a throw-in in the attacking third in the 56^th minute.  Michael Delaney's throw skipped through the box, eventually finding Isaac Perez near the penalty area who blasted a low volley that found the back of the goal for Perez's eighth goal of the season and giving Dominican their first lead of the match.
 
The Stars then stayed organized in the back and Martin made two more saves to make the one-goal lead stand up.

"After being down 1-0 at the half with a couple of missed opportunities, it was nice to see the team come out and get a good quick start, getting on the board in the 48^th minute," continued Baumann.  "That goal really brought a lot of energy to the crowd and on the field."
 
MSOE finished with a slight, 16-15 advantage in shots, with Dominican putting six shots on frame and the Raiders managing five on goal.  Corners kicks favored the Stars, 7-6, while the physical matchup saw both sides whistled for 19 fouls.
 
Dominican now awaits the NCAA Division III Men's Soccer National Committee to announce the field of 62 teams on Monday at 12:30 p.m. CT.
 
"I'm really happy for this senior class," said Baumann.  "There are extremely high expectations every year to be successful.  This class has been right there a few times but had not won a tournament championship.  I'm very happy for them and proud of them."