LINCOLN, Neb. – 4^th-seeded Nebraska Wesleyan shutout the No. 5 seed University of Dubuque, 2-0, on Saturday afternoon in the quarterfinals of the 2017 IIAC Men's Soccer Postseason Tournament that was played at Abel Stadium.
 
With the victory, Nebraska Wesleyan advances to the IIAC Tournament Semifinals where they will face top-seeded Luther College on Wednesday night (Nov. 1) in Decorah, Iowa at 7 pm.
 
It was a historic day for the Prairie Wolves men's soccer team as they notched their first conference tournament victory since 1997 when they won the NIAC Championship.  NWU played in front of their largest home crowd in several years and gave the fans an exciting match all the way to the postgame celebration.
 
NWU came out attacking early and had several good shot attempts in the first ten minutes of the match, proving they were much better than the earlier 3-0 loss they suffered at Dubuque on Oct. 18.
 
The Prairie Wolves got on the board in the 24^th minute on a well executed play.  Jake Kennedy had a long throw in right in front of the goal that was touched by Brady Blazek perfectly over to Cade Miller who kicked the ball into the open net.  It was the second goal of the season for Miller and Blazek adds to his IIAC leading assist total.
 
NWU maintained the 1-0 advantage into halftime.
 
In the second half, the Prairie Wolves added to their lead in the 56^th minute.  This time, Hunter Kruse sent a cross in front of the goal, where Jake Kennedy headed into straight into the back of the goal for his 12^th goal of the year.
 
The 2-0 advantage would prove to be too much for the Spartans to overcome as they couldn't break through the tough NWU defense.  The Spartans had 11 shot attempts, but only three on goal that were all saved by NWU goalkeeper Jack Nespor.
 
Nebraska Wesleyan improves to 11-6-1 overall, their highest win total since 2008.  They now prepare to add to that win total and keep their postseason alive with a tough semifinal match at IIAC regular season champion Luther College on Wednesday.  Luther defeated NWU 4-0 in their first meeting back on September 23.