CHICAGO, Ill. - The Rockford University men's soccer team secured a spot in the 2023 NACC Tournament on Wednesday night despite a 1-0 loss on the road to the Illinois Tech Scarlet Hawks. Rockford earned the #7 seed by virtue of its stellar play all season long, and will play at the #2 seed Aurora University Spartans in the NACC Tournament Quarterfinals on Saturday, September 28 at noon. Wednesday night's match at Illinois Tech was extremely tight and was not decided until the final moments. The Scarlet Hawks had 16 shots including 7 shots on goal, compared to 15 shots and 5 shots on goal for the Regents. The difference maker came in the 51st minute when Illinois Tech's Paul Balea scored an unassisted goal in the bottom right corner of the net. Rockford continued to fight and peppered the goal with 6 shots over the final 17 minutes, but unfortunately was unable to find the back of the net and fell by a final score of 1-0.
- The first half was a defensive struggle with neither team able to get on the board.
- Illinois Tech registered nine shots over the first 45 minutes, including a trio of shots on goal. Fortunately, the RU defense and goalkeeper Andrik Vidaurri were up to the task, turning away the Scarlet Hawks each time to keep the match scoreless.
- Rockford tallied four shots in the opening half, with a shot on goal in the 28th minute by Raul Martinez. However, Rockford was also unable to find the back of the net and the match entered the half tied at zero.
- Unfortunately, IIT's Paul Balea broke the scoreless tie in the 51st minute. Balea fired a shot from about 35 yards out that snuck into the lower right corner of the net and gave the Scarlet Hawks a 1-0 lead.
- Regent keeper Andrik Vidaurri would turn away Illinois Tech three more times over the remainder of the match, including a pair of saves in a two-minute span, to keep it a one-goal game.
- Rockford absolutely peppered the net the rest of the way, registering ten shot attempts during the final 26 minutes. Over that span, the Regents had four shots on goal, two from Abraham Gonzalez and one apiece from Andrew Roth and Raul Martinez.
- Unfortunately, the Illinois Tech defense denied the Regents each time and sealed the 1-0 victory.
- Andrik Vidaurri finished with 6 saves in the match. He ends the regular season in the top four in the NACC in five different categories. Viduarri led the NACC in saves (72), finished second in shutouts (6) and saves per match (4.47), third in minutes played (1438:50) and fourth in save percentage (.732).
- Javier Palacios led Rockford with 4 shots.
- Abraham Gonzalez had 3 shots and 2 shots on goal.
- Raul Martinez tallied 2 shots and 2 shots on goal.
- The RU men's soccer team will now play at Aurora University in the NACC Tournament Quarterfinals.
- The match will be played on Saturday, October 28 at noon at Spartan Athletic Park in Montgomery, Illinois.
