BETHANY, Okla. - The top-seeded Crimson Storm took their home field to compete for the GAC/MIAA Tournament Championship against No. 2 seeded Rogers State. Southern Nazarene was dominant, lifting them to a 3-1 victory over the Hillcats to capture the tournament title for the second straight year.

The Storm (13-4-2, 10-2 GAC) met Rogers State (12-6-2, 8-4 GAC) for the third time this season. SNU came out on top in their two previous meetings, defeating the Hillcats at home 2-1 and on the road 2-1, as well. The Hillcats were awaiting a rematch with the top-seeded Storm, but could not fend off the hot SNU offense.

Southern Nazarene's offense was dialed in from the first whistle. The Storm was the aggressor early on, with two quick passes from Miguel Torrecillas and Bruno Ferreira that set up Unaiz Shajani perfectly to give SNU the early lead, 1-0. The Crimson Storm did not stop there. They used the next five minutes to spread the ball well to allow Ferreira to shoot one to Daniel Trojman for a quick goal stretching the Storm lead, to 2-0, 18 minutes into the match.

The Hillcats locked down their defense and held the Storm right there, while their offense responded with a goal in the 32nd minute to cut the deficit to 2-1. The Storm was hungry for more and Orlando Castro took matters into his own hands to give SNU a 3-1 lead at the half. 

The second half would be a defensive battle with both squads playing lockdown defense. The Storm and the Hillcats went on to be successful keeping one another off the scoreboard for the remainder of the match. SNU defended a tough 17 shots from RSU making big defensive stops to limit the Hillcats' offense. This caused Rogers State to come up short, falling to Southern Nazarene, 3-1. 

The Storm reclaimed their GAC/MIAA Tournament Championship title for the second year in a row after capturing the GAC/MIAA Regular Season title just a few weeks ago. SNU was led by an outstanding defensive performance from Alvaro Sanchez who was named the tournament MVP. Fellow teammates Juan Rodarte, Andrej Krivokapic, Unaiz Shajani, and Daniel Trojman were also named to the All-Tournament team. 

Up Next 

The Crimson Storm will await the NCAA selection show after earning an automatic bid into the NCAA DII Men's Soccer Championships to see where they will continue their incredible season next.