The Benedictine University men's soccer team wraps up the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference regular season on Wednesday, as the team heads to Aurora University for an afternoon matchup.
Wednesday is an important day for the Eagles, as the team still has a chance to earn a first-round bye in the NACC Tournament. Regardless of what BenU does against Aurora, a Milwaukee School of Engineering victory over Dominican University would give BenU the tournament's second seed. If Dominican defeats MSOE, Benedictine must beat Aurora to force a three-way tie at the top of the division, with the tie-breaker being conference goal differential. Heading into Wednesday, MSOE's goal differential is +24, Dominican's is +18, and BenU's is +17.
Wednesday: at Aurora (11-4-2, 6-3), 1:00 p.m.
Aurora has had a strong season and is already locked in as the fourth seed in the six-team NACC Tournament. The Spartans have outscored NACC foes 22-11, with the three losses coming to Concordia University Chicago (4-3), Dominican (3-0), and MSOE (2-0). Aurora will come into Wednesday's matchup on a three-match winning streak, recording shutouts over Marian University, Rockford University, and Wisconsin Lutheran College.
The Spartans have controlled the rivalry over the past decade, as the Eagles have won just one time in the series since 2004. Aurora has taken the last five matchups and handed BenU its only NACC regular season defeat last year, a 4-0 victory at the Village of Lisle/Benedictine University Sports Complex. BenU has not defeated the Spartans since a 1-0 win in 2008 and has not won at Aurora since a 4-2 win in 2002.
