UNIVERSITY CITY, Mich. – The sixth seeded Drury Panthers pulled off another upset as they advanced past second seeded Tiffin with a 2-1 win in the second round of the NCAA-II men’s soccer national tournament on Sunday in University City, Michigan.
The Panthers (13-4-3) will advance to the third round of the national tournament for the first time in program history and will play the winner of top seeded Rockhurst and fourth seeded Southern Indiana for the NCAA-II Midwest Regional championship game on Friday, Nov. 18. The time and site for that and the national quarterfinal round will be determined by the NCAA following the conclusion of second round games.
Drury scored early when Pierre Villez connected for an unassisted goal just six minutes into the game. The Panthers then took a 2-0 lead in the 22nd minute when Ben Bruce scored his eighth goal of the season.
Tiffin (14-5-2) answered Bruce’s goal two minutes later on Michael McPeek’s 13th goal of the year that pulled the Dragons within one.
The Panthers then survived a second half onslaught of shots from the nation’s 23rd ranked team and winners of the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference tournament. Tiffin put up 14 shots in the second half, including five on goal. The Dragons outshot Drury in the game 24-8. Goalkeeper Nic Helin made seven saves for the Panthers.
In the opening round on Friday, Drury defeated third seeded and host team Saginaw Valley State 2-1. The Panthers were playing in an NCAA-II second round game for the third time in team history. They were previously 0-2 in program history in that round of the tournament.
