The #4 seeded Aquinas men's soccer team started its march towards a WHAC Tournament Title with a quarterfinal win over #5 seeded Madonna on Saturday afternoon (Nov. 6) at the AQ Athletic Field. The Saints record their sixth blank sheet this season and capitalized on two Crusaders' mistakes to take the 2-0 win.

Aquinas improves its record to 7-5-3, while Madonna ends its season with a 7-4-5 record after the loss.

The first half was back-and-forth as scoring chances were hard to come by within the defensive intensity. The Saints caught a break after the Crusaders were called for a foul just a foot outside of the box that awarded AQ a free kick in the 32nd minute. Theo Maye stepped up to the ball and bent his shot over the wall and into the top left corner for the first goal of the game. The eventual game winner was Maye's third goal on the season and was the only score in the first half as the Saints took the 1-0 lead into the break. 

The shots attempted were nearly cut in half throughout the second frame compared to the first as the Saints sat back to protect the one-goal lead. However, Madonna made a mistake that allowed Aquinas to counter with a two-on-one break. Ricardo Rittersberger was able to set up Mason Sills, who buried his shot up under the crossbar for the goal that gave AQ a two-goal cushion in the 61st minute. Sills now leads the team with four goals on the season. The Saints were able to withstand any push that the Crusaders had, eliminating them from the WHAC Tournament.

Jared Ireland (6-0-2) turned in his sixth shutout in eight starts in net and made two saves on the day. Youssou Ouendeno took the loss for MU after finishing with two saves and two goals allowed.

Aquinas outshot Madonna by an 11-7 margin with four of those shots being on net compared to the two by MU. AQ also held a 5-2 advantage in corner kicks, while the Saints committed 20 fouls to the Crusaders' nine.

Aquinas will wait for the winner of the #1 seed Indiana Tech and the #8 seed Cornerstone game, which will start at 7:00 PM tonight. If the Warriors win, then the Saints will travel to Fort Wayne, Indiana for the semifinal game. If the Golden Eagles win, then the Saints will host them in the semifinal game. The semifinal will be played on Wednesday, Nov. 10 with the opponent, site, and time to be announced at a later date.