Livonia, Mich. — Same scenario. Same result. Same agony. 

For a second straight season, the Aquinas men's soccer team had the WHAC regular season champions scrambling not to be upset in the semifinals of the conference tournament. And, just like last year, the No. 4-seeded Saints reached overtime with a man-advantage but went to penalty kicks after no goals were scored in the extra 20 minutes.

In 2021, No. 9-ranked Indiana Tech eked out a 6-5 shootout win over Aquinas. On Wednesday afternoon (Nov. 9), No. 16 Madonna survived too against the Saints with a 4-2 shootout win after playing to a 0-0 draw in regulation and through overtime. 

While the upset-minded Saints (10-7-3) suffered another heart-breaking postseason loss, the undefeated host Crusaders (15-0-4) celebrated advancing to the WHAC title match for the first time since 2019. Certainly not the déjà vu moment Aquinas wanted to witness.

The Saints started the game strong with a bulk of the possession and scoring opportunities. However, that didn't produce any goals and allowed Madonna to slowly work its way into the match. 

Neither team scored in the first half with Aquinas outshooting Madonna 6-4 (2-3 shots on target).

AQ's best chance to score in the first half came off a free kick in the 26th minute when junior midfielder Theo Maye curled a ball up and over the wall, but Crusader's goalkeeper Youssou Ouendeno made a diving save near the left post. Sophomore defender Joshua Clemitson had the Saints' other shot on goal in the 19th minute.

Jordy Lopez, Madonna's leading goal scorer this season with 10 goals, registered two shots on target in the first half. Andres Gomez Rubiano had the other, but AQ senior goalkeeper Antonio Strassioto was up to the challenge on all three shots to keep the game scoreless going into halftime.

Aquinas escaped a pair of Madonna free kick attempts just outside the 18-yard box in the opening minutes of the second half, while the Crusaders argued to have a couple of penalty kicks instead. 

Momentum shifted the other way in the 78th minute when Madonna's Issei Ito was shown a red card and had Madonna playing down a man for the rest of the game. Aquinas then took control of most of the possession from that point on.
 
Yet, after 90 minutes, the score remained 0-0. Overtime was needed. 

The extra 20 minutes of play didn't decide anything, and for a second straight season the Saints went to a penalty shootout with the top-seeded team in the WHAC Tournament semifinals.

Both AQ's Andrea Ghiggini and MU's Leonardo Abonizio scored in the first round. The Saints then powered their next two penalties over the crossbar while Crusaders' Ren Suzuki and Ramon Rocha each scored their penalties to put Madonna up 3-1. Clemitson scored to keep AQ's hopes alive for a moment before Lopez slotted in the game-winning penalty.

The Crusaders scored all four of their penalties to win 4-2, despite not having a single shot on goal in the second half or either overtime period. AQ ended up outshooting MU 13-9 (6-3 shots on goal). The Saints also had five more corners (8-3).   

Aquinas likely ends its season with a 10-7-3 overall record as an at-large bid to the NAIA National Tournament seems unlikely. The Saints reached the 10-win plateau for the second time in the past five seasons and have finished fourth in the conference the last two seasons.