INDIANAPOLIS - With just one more game for both the Men and Women in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference season, the finals of the Soccer Championships will feature two tremendous match-ups and will each crown a new champion.

The 2013 Men’s Soccer Championships will match up the top two seeds from the regular season as #2 Cedarville takes on top seed and tournament host Davis and Elkins. Cedarville, who lost at home last season in the championship game of the inaugural tournament, will look to not repeat history, while D&E in its first season with the conference will look to come in and show they are the program to beat in the new look G-MAC.

In the regular-season, the Yellow Jackets lost to the Senators earlier in the season in Cedarville, 2-0. In the victory, James Pucci and Wyatt Hill each scored a goal in the first half. Statistically, the game was close as Cedarville outshot D&E 9-8, while the Senators had three corners to CU’s two, though both came in the second half as Cedarville pushed the attach.

Cedarville on the road this season is 6-2-1, while D&E is 7-1-1 at home. The Senators feature the G-MAC Offensive Player of the Year and the nation’s leader in scoring (goals and points), a spot he should easily keep a hold on as he scored four more goals in the semifinal round win over Salem. On the other side of the field, Cedarville features one of the nation’s best defense and the G-MAC’s All-Conference First Team goalkeeper, Ethan Dewhurst.

Davis and Elkins, after starting 0-3-1 on the season has rattled off 12 wins in 13 games, losing just one game to G-MAC opponent Trevecca Nazarene, who Cedarville beat in the semifinals 6-2 to advance to the finals. Cedarville has posted 11 shutouts on the season and have outscored their opponents 49 to 13 on the season. In the second half, the Yellow Jackets have scored 30 of its 49 goals. On the other hand, D&E has only been shut out twice, but not since Sept. 14. Since then they have averaged 3.7 goals per game.

The 2013 Women’s Soccer Championships will feature the #4 seeded Ursuline College Arrows, who advanced to the finals after a quarterfinal win over #5 Trevecca Nazarene, the defending G-MAC champions, and then upsetting the regular-season champion, top seed, and tournament host Cedarville; and #2 Davis and Elkins, who advanced with wins over #7 Salem International (4-0) and #3 Alderson Broaddus (2-1).

The Senators, who are riding a eight game winning streak, have enjoyed a great first season in the conference and like the men, will look to secure the programs and the school’s first-ever G-MAC Championship. D&E’s eight game win streak, of which seven were against conference opponents began with a road win over Ursuline in overtime, 2-1. The victory was a turning point for the Senators as they rebounded just two days after an embarrassing 7-1 loss to Cedarville.
 
For Ursuline, the game is a chance to get revenge for the loss as the Arrows lead 1-0 after a goal from Cassie Cripe, who was named G-MAC Freshman of the Year and scored the game-winner in both the quarterfinals in overtime against #5 TNU, and again in the semifinals against #1 Cedarville.
 
The goal came in the 19th minute and it wasn’t until 71:01 when Laia Dordas, an All-Conference Second Team selection, scored to send the game into overtime. Four and a half minutes into the first overtime, Kaitlyn Buoni scored her first goal of the season to claim the road win, helping the Senators secure a top-two seed.

Ursuline will look to Vanessa Consiglio, Paige Rowan, and Cassie Cripe on offense, who combined have scored 34 goals and added 21 assists for 89 points. That is four more goals, six more assists, and more points than the entire D&E roster has posted.

Defensively, D&E has allowed only 26 goals, while Ursuline has given up 19. Ursuline had a conference high six selections to the All-Conference First and Second Teams, and four First Team selections, incluing Consiglio, Rowan, Anna Feitl, and goalkeeper Helen Jazzar. D&E defender Alison Bogar earned First Team honors, while Dordas, Maggie Fry, and goalkeeper Ashley Winkelspecht joined Cripe and Brittany Prato on the Second Team