SPRING ARBOR, Mich. – The Spring Arbor University men's soccer hosted Indiana Wesleyan University in a rematch of the regular season instant classic. This match was far from the competitive one we witnessed a month earlier. Spring Arbor led 1-0 at half, but, in the second stanza, scored four times within 20 minutes of each other to break the match wide open in a 5-0 rout. 

The second-seeded, and No. 21 ranked, Cougars advance to the Crossroads League Tournament Championship game to play top-seeded Bethel College.

THE BASICS

FINAL SCORE: #21 Spring Arbor 5, Indiana Wesleyan 0

LOCATION: Cougar Soccer Complex | Spring Arbor, Mich.

RECORDS: Spring Arbor 13-3-4, Indiana Wesleyan 10-7-2

HOW IT HAPPENED

• A well-played first half by both sides saw the Cougars draw first blood. In the 29th minute, Corey Swartzendruber played a beautiful ball into the six that found the head of junior Lewis Jones for his sixth goal on the year.
• The Cougars outshot the Wildcats 5-2 in the first half.
• Spring Arbor came out of the locker room firing on all cylinders. Less than two minutes into the second half, Janum Sailor was the right guy in the right spot as he cleaned up a mess in the six by pounding a rebound into the back of the net. The early second half goal gave the Cougars a 2-0 lead.  
• The second half domination was far from over as less than eight minutes later Michael Caccavo headed the ball across the box to Morris Kamara, who used his head to find the back of the net for his 10th goal of the season.
• Five minutes later, the Cougars' attack struck again. Jacob Crull played a ball through the box and Kamara made a quality decision to let the ball travel right in front of him and found the streaking foot of Jones as he tapped it in for his second goal of the day.

BEYOND THE BOXSCORE

• Spring Arbor continues their home unbeaten streak, marking 22 consecutive  games.
• The Cougars are making their first trip back to the conference tournament final since the 2013 season.
• Spring Arbor's win over the Wildcats ends their four year winless drought to IWU.

FOR THE WILDCATS

• Indiana Wesleyan's season ends on their worst loss in seven years when they were defeated by Judson University 6-1.
• IWU was dominated in every statistical category in the match. The Cougars outshot the Wildcats 15-7 and 10-2 in shots on goal.
• The Wildcats end their season 10-7-1

QUOTES FROM HEAD COACH NATHAN MILLER

• "We are extremely proud of the players' effort tonight. They were up for the tough challenge and responded in remarkable ways. IWU is a very well-coached team, and have also been a difficult hurdle for us in the past. That performance was resounding, and I am so proud of the boys."
• "We dedicated this match to the past couple senior classes that came before them which this result meant a heck of a lot to."
• "I'm continually impressed by our player leadership, our weekly detailed preparation, and then how we fight and perform on match day."

UP NEXT

After top-seeded Bethel survived a scare from Huntington University in the semifinals, Spring Arbor will travel to Mishawaka, Indiana to take on the Pilots in the championship match on Saturday, Nov. 12.

Men's Soccer Contact: Chris Bauman | 517-750-6504 | christopher.bauman@arbor.edu
SAU Athletics: Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube
Men's Soccer: Twitter | Facebook