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RIPON, Wis. – The 2013 Midwest Conference (MWC) Men’s Soccer Tournament has only half of the 2012 field returning with Carroll looking for its fourth straight MWC Tournament title. Lake Forest hosts the tournament in consecutive seasons after going 9-1-0 in league play en route to claiming its 16th MWC Championship. Joining the Foresters will be Carroll, St. Norbert, and Knox with the tournament taking place November 8-9, 2013.

Lake Forest hosts Knox at 11:00 a.m. on Friday while Carroll and St. Norbert will play the second semifinal game at 1:30 p.m. The winner of the semifinal matches square off on Saturday at 12:00 p.m. with the winner claiming the MWC automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Earlier in the year Knox defeated Lake Forest 2-1 on October 19 while Carroll defeated St. Norbert 4-1 on October 19.

Lake Forest won a MWC Championship for consecutive seasons and play for the school’s first trip to the NCAA Tournament since the 1996 season. The Foresters won seven of their final eight contests and have outscored teams 36-13 on the season. Mahir Mameledzija led the league with 18 goals and also topped the charts with 38 points on the season that includes only six games where he failed to record at least one point. Dylan Hartman finished the season third with 0.70 goals per game as he found the back of the net seven times in only 10 games and is also second on the team with 16 points. Lake Forest is the toughest team in the conference to score on allowing only 13 goals while posting 10 shutouts. Ethan Guenther (0.69 GAA, .850 save%) and Ian Taylor (0.82 GAA, .750 save%) have combined to give up only two goal in the last seven contests.

Carroll qualified for the MWC Tournament for the eighth straight season and is defending a tournament title it has hoisted in each of the last three seasons. Carroll uses a strong defense that has surrendered only 16 goals on the season and has outscored opponents 24-10 in second halves of contests. Tomek Miaskowski posted a 0.86 goals against average during the regular season with a .755 save percentage that resulted in five shutouts. Carroll enters the tournament on a six game winning streak and gets offensive supports from the team leading goal scorer, Dan Czernicki who has eight goals and added four assists during the year. Caden Pruitt scored six goals and had 16 points while Liam Michener scored five times and assisted on a pair of other goals to add to a potent offense.

St. Norbert is back in the MWC Tournament for the first time since 2009 and plays for a chance to get back into the NCAA Tournament for the first time since the 2007 season.  The Green Knights enter the 2013 tournament as one of the top scoring teams in the conference, finishing third in the MWC in both goals (40) and points (115). A total of five players have scored double-digit points on the season led by Kirill Vasilenko with seven goals and four assists while Sam Lamers added six goals and three assists on the season. Joe Fabich, Trevor Scales and Nate Felhofer each have scored four or more goals on the season while Scott Faul highlights the defense with a 1.32 goals against average and a .769 save percentage.

After finishing the 2012 season with a 6-9-2 overall mark and a 2-6-2 record in MWC play Knox is in the MWC Tournament for the first time in school history after going 6-3-0 in league play and 13-5-0 overall. The Prairie Fire use an up tempo offense that leads the league in points (152), goals (55), and shots per game (18.44) to fuel the success. Nathaniel Logie finished the year second in the league in points (37) and goals (16) while Max Gatyas (six goals, 13 assists) and Charlie Harned (seven goals, 11 assists) are first and second in the MWC in assists. Along with the strong offense Knox posted nine shutouts (second in MWC) while allowing only 18 goals in 18 contests. Sean Dockrell had a 0.70 goals against average that was good for second in the league to go along with a save percentage of .778.

To view the MWC Men’s Soccer Tournament page please [click here]