Spartan Men Advance in Northern Athletics Conference Tournament

AURORA, Ill. October 31, 2007 - The Aurora University Spartan men’s soccer team won in thrilling fashion on Wednesday afternoon as they narrowly defeated Edgewood College in a shootout to advance to the Northern Athletics Conference Tournament Championship game.

The exciting win pushes Aurora’s overall record to 12-3-5, while Edgewood’s season comes to an end with an impressive 10-7-1 record.

In a rematch of last Saturday’s competitive Northern Athletics Conference match, the first half was full of physical play and tough defense. This being the case, it was no surprise that the score was tied at zero as both tams headed into intermission.

The second half saw Edgewood strike first as senior midfielder Kevin Fisher found the back of the net for the 15th time in 2007, his goal coming off of a junior defender Jim Brandon assist.

Twenty-two minutes later, Aurora struck back when senior defender Jim Spann went unassisted to the back of the net to tie the game at one. The goal was Spann’s first of the season and second of his career.

The remainder of the game saw more defense and the score stayed tied headed into overtime sessions. The first overtime was dominated, once again, by defense; as was the second and the stage was then set for a thrilling shootout finish.

Although they went down early in the shoot-out, Aurora managed to come back for a 3-2 shootout victory and advance to take on the top seeded Stars of Dominican University in the Northern Athletics Conference Tournament.

The shootout was highlighted by AU freshman goalkeeper Matt Ness’ three acrobatic saves.

With the shootout victory, Aurora earns a chance to play for a conference tournament championship when they travel to Dominican University on Saturday, November 3 for a 1:00 p.m. game in River Forest, IL.