La Crosse, Wis. - A late game substitute proved to be the hero for the #2 Viterbo University Men's Soccer team, as Jake Wenzel (Fr. - Stoughton, Wis.) scored the game winning goal with 18 seconds left in regulation to lead the V-Hawks to a 3-2 win over #3 Grand View University. The win puts the V-Hawks in the Midwest Collegiate Conference Championship game for the first time in eight years as they will face #1 Ashford University on Thursday afternoon.

The V-Hawks fell behind 2-1 early in the second half as Augustine Faiz scored on an assist by Jonny MacAdam. Things did not look good as the Vikings continued to put the pressure on the V-Hawks and see plenty of scoring opportunities. That was until head coach Andy Lee decided to put sub, Wenzel, into the contest in the 66th minute. Wenzel has had a knack for late game goals as four of his five have come late in the second half. Wenzel wasted little time finding the net as he put an assist from Andy Sadowskyj (So. Bradford, England) past Vikings goalie Darren Martin in the 69th minute.

With the game then tied at 2 apiece, it looked as though the contest would need extra time to decide the outcome. Then things got really interesting in the last four minutes as both teams had quality scoring opportunities. With the ball loose in the Viterbo penalty box, a Vikings player got a foot on the ball and V-Hawk goalie Josh Lines (Fr. - Bristol, England) barley covered the ball up before it crossed the goal line. Viterbo would have one final chance as the time entered its final seconds. Another late game substitute, Kyle Spencer (Fr. - Eleva, Wis.), sent a past to Wenzel which he was able to put past Martin for the game winning goal with 18 seconds remaining.

Junior Tony Madigan (Dane, Wis.) got the V-Hawks on the board first with his ninth goal of the season on an assist by Jamie Robertson (Jr. - Langho, England). It was Robertson's eighth assist on the season and his 34th point of the season which is the second most in the MCC. Craig Hughes scored the first goal of the game for the Vikings. Like the regular season game, Grand View outshot the V-Hawks 17-8 and had a marginal advantage in corner kicks (6-5).

The win improves the V-Hawks to 12-5-2 overall as they extend their win streak to five games. More impressively, the V-Hawks have not lost (8-0-1) a contest since September 26 when they fell 2-1 to Ashford University in overtime. The Vikings finish the season 12-5-2 overall and had been receiving votes in the NAIA top-25 poll.

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