ROLLA, Mo. – Missouri S&T's men's soccer team entered Sunday's home finale with an opportunity to reach the Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament for the first time since 2017. But to make it, the Miners needed at least a positive result against the hottest team in the GLVC and get favorable results in other games across the conference Sunday afternoon.
The Miners did their part, knocking off Indianapolis 3-2 at the S&T Soccer Field and got a result it needed to make the GLVC Tournament as well as Missouri-St. Louis beat McKendree 2-1 to allow S&T to grab the eighth seed for the event that begins next Sunday.
Missouri S&T will take on top-seeded Maryville in a first round game in St. Louis at 2 p.m. on Oct. 30.
Sunday's win not only ended S&T's five-year absence from the GLVC Tournament, but also halted UIndy's winning streak at seven games and was the Miners' first win over the Greyhounds since Sept. 16, 2012, which ended an 11-game winless streak in the series.
The Miners (5-7-4, 4-4-4 GLVC) got on the scoreboard first in the 13
th minute when
Caden Archer (St. Louis, MO/Vianney) threw a ball about eight yards in front of the net that
Jason Jorgensen (Florence, Italy/Liceo Scientifico Santa Maria) headed past UIndy goalkeeper Joey Schrand, but just over four minutes later, the Greyhounds (9-3-3, 7-3-2 GLVC) got a free kick opportunity just outside the box that Michael Tselios converted to even the score.
But in the 37
th minute, the Miners were given a penalty kick chance and
Grant Polman (Wentzville, MO/Holt) scored on it to give the Miners a 2-1 lead that they would take to the intermission.
The Greyhounds would get to play the second half with the gusty winds at the S&T Soccer Field at their backs, but the Miners were able to hold them off the scoreboard for over 30 minutes. In the 76
th minute, Jorgensen got the ball on a UIndy giveaway, made a move on a defender and got a shot by Schrand to give S&T a two-goal lead with just under 15 minutes remaining.
UIndy made it a one-goal contest just over a minute later when it received a penalty kick chance, which Ibo Yilmaz made to trim the lead to 3-2. But the Miner stood tall defensively to protect the lead, holding off two late corner kick chances and getting a late save from
Davis Joseph (Andover, KS/Andover Central) on a shot by Seth Ward to wrap up the victory.
The Miners were outshot 13-7 in the tightly-contested game, with Joseph finishing with six saves in goal for S&T.
