With the regular season winding down, the Benedictine University men's soccer team has just three final tune-ups before the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference Tournament. Two of the three contests are this week, as the Eagles will host Lake Forest College in a non-conference match on Thursday night and travel to Marian University on Saturday afternoon.
The Eagles (8-6-1, 7-1) clinched a spot in the NACC Tournament with two wins last week. BenU defeated Concordia University Chicago at home 2-0 last Wednesday and won at Lakeland College 9-3 on Saturday. Nick Kaeptanos scored six goals in the two matches, moving his total to 14 on the season. In Saturday's win over Lakeland, Kapetanos recorded five goals and an assists for 11 points, the highest total for any Division III player in a game this season. In addition,
Ante Markotic tallied two goals and an assist against Lakeland, and
Alex Haro added two assists.
Thursday: vs. Lake Forest (6-8-2), 7:00 p.m.
Members of the Midwest Conference, Lake Forest will visit Benedictine on Thursday night for BenU's final non-conference matchup of the season. The Foresters have a .438 winning percentage on the season, but have done well in Midwest Conference play, going 5-2-2 and sitting in second place. Lake Forest have played one other NACC team this season, falling at Edgewood College 2-1 on September 14.
While the Eagles and Foresters did not meet last season, the two teams have been frequent non-conference foes in the past. Lake Forest defeated the Eagles each season form 2009-2012, as Benedictine's last victory in the series came at Lake Forest in 2008 by a 2-1 score. Thursday will be the Eagles' eighth non-conference game on the season, and BenU is 1-5-1 in those contests.
Saturday: at Marian (5-11-0, 2-7-0), 2:30 p.m.
BenU opposes a Marian team on Saturday that currently sits in tenth place in the NACC. The Sabres have dropped three straight matches and five of six overall, with the lone victory coming 7-0 over Rockford University on October 11. The last three matchups have been shutouts for Marian, as the team has been blanked by Concordia University Wisconsin, Aurora University, and Lakeland University.
The Eagles have had success against the Sabres over the last three seasons, winning all three matchups. Last season, BenU defeated Marian 3-2 behind two Markotic goals. The Eagles have not lost to Marian since a 3-2 defeat in 2009 and have outscored the Sabres 6-2 in the last three matches.
