Bruins advance to NAIA Championship Site

HASTINGS, Neb. - Junior Tobias Maertzke (Hamburg, Germany) scored the game-winner in the 51^st minute and senior Manuel Lira (Guadalajara, Mexico) sealed the game with a goal in the 90^th minute as the No. 14 Bellevue University men's soccer team defeated No. 8 Hastings College 2-0 in an NAIA National Tournament Opening Round match on Saturday evening.

The victory is Bellevue's first NAIA National Tournament victory since 2009 when the Bruins claimed a 2-0 Opening Round victory over Bethel (Ind.).

With the victory the Bruins (15-2-2) advance to the 2014 NAIA National Tournament Final Site for the first time since 2009. The Finals will be held from Dec. 1-6 at the Seacrest Soccer Complex in Delray Beach, Fla.

The match was scoreless through the opening half as each team was only able to manage two total shots and one on goal.

Maertzke opened the Bellevue scoring in the 51^st minute with his third game-winning goal of the season. The goal, his 11^th of the year, ties All-MCAC First Team pick Maertzke with MCAC Freshman of the Year Rob Smith (Lincoln, England0 for the team lead.

With mounting Hastings pressure late in the second half, Lira struck with just 39 seconds to play to seal the victory. The goal, his 10^th, marks the second straight game in which Lira has scored and the MCAC First Team selection is now one of three Bellevue players with 10 or more goals this season.

Bruin head coach Matt Briggs was very pleased with the club's performance and is thrilled they'll have the opportunity to continue their season next week, saying, "It means a great deal for everyone involved in the program to advance to Florida."

Briggs also raved about how the team has played throughout the campaign and went on to add that, "The boys have been fantastic all season and it is great for our seniors that they have the opportunity to play next week. They deserve it!"

Hastings held a 15-8 edge in shots while also owning a 9-7 edge in shots on goal. The nine shots on goal were the most the stout Bellevue defense had allowed on the year but senior keeper Scott Robertson (Burnley, England) was up to the task. Robertson made a season-high nine saves on the day to record his sixth clean sheet of the season and improve his record to 12-2-2 while lowering his goals against average to a nifty 0.62 this season.

Each team earned six corner kicks for the match.

Bellevue's next match will be Monday, Dec. 1 when they take on Vanguard (Calif.), who advanced past Indiana Wesleyan on penalties, at 12:30 p.m.