Men's soccer nets third straight tournament bid

The Xavier men's soccer team fell short this past weekend at the Atlantic 10 Championships, losing 1-0 to Saint Louis University in the semifinals. The Musketeers were looking
for their third straight A-10 Championship title but could
not defeat the second-seeded Billikens. The men's team advanced to the semifinals via a penalty shootout victory over the University of Dayton on Thursday night following
a 1-1 draw. The Musketeers now stand with a 13-2-5 record
in addition to a 6-1-2 mark in the A-10. In their opening game of the tournament, Xavier and Dayton played to a 1-1 tie despite playing additional minutes. Junior Matt Walker netted the Musketeers' lone goal in the 56th minute to tie
the game up. Following the overtime, the match moved to penalty kicks, where Xavier edged out Dayton 3-2.
Senior goalkeeper Justin Marshall stopped two shots during the shootout while seniors James Spencer and James Queree and junior Nick Hagglund scored on their attempts. The win marked the third shootout victory for the Musketeers in the past three seasons. "It took us going down 1-0 to realize it's postseason time," head coach Andy Fleming said. "The theme of today was to be able to play another day." Xavier returned to action on Friday against a team they had beaten previously in the season. The Musketeers played the Billikens to an even game until
the 82nd minute when Saint Louis went ahead via a late second-half goal. The team put only three shots on goal during the contest compared to the five for Saint Louis.
The loss marks only the second defeat of the season for Xavier, who set a program record for victories. Xavier will take on the University of Kentucky at 7 p.m. Thursday in Lexington, Ky. with the hopes of securing the first tournament win in program history.