HAYS, Kan. - Ohio Valley entered the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Men's Soccer Championship bracket and after Thursday's triumphant Midwest Region title for the Fighting Scots, the narrative still hasn't changed.

As the fourth seed in the region and not even the Great Midwest Athletic Conference regular-season champion or tournament champion, OVU faced an uphill battle, but has answered the call every step of the way.

The Fighting Scots (18-5-1 overall) booked a date into the Elite 8 of the championship bracket, the first time a Great Midwest program in any sport has advanced this far in the postseason in almost seven years of league history.

In the Midwest Region Championship, an 11th-minute goal from Miguel Sarmiento, his first of the season, set the tone for stifling No. 3 seed Saginaw Valley State defensively.

Sarmiento unleashed a shot well beyond the top of the box, skipping past the SVSU back line into the net.

Ohio Valley won 1-0 to advance to the NCAA quarterfinals, where it awaits Central Region champion No. 1 Fort Hays State or No. 2 Northeastern State for a Saturday 8 p.m. ET start time.

OVU had already made it back to the Sweet 16 for the second year in a row, but as the lone unranked United Soccer Poll program left, there was a certain chip on the shoulder of this year's group.

The bracket started with 38 teams and OVU's road to this point was a 2-1 OT win over No. 5 seed Maryville in the opening round, a 1-1 tie with PK advancement vs. top seed and region host Tiffin in the semifinals and another thrilling outcome vs. No. 3 SVSU.

The Fighting Scots were ranked in the top 10, including as high as No. 2, for eight straight weeks in the regular season but tumbled out of the national rankings towards the end of the regular season.

A loss in the conference championship game to Tiffin gave the Fighting Scots an at-large selection.

It was a tale of different tapes between Ohio Valley and Saginaw Valley State coming in.

The Cardinals were on a scoring spree in the first two rounds of the national tournament with eight goals before being silenced by the OVU defense. On the other hand, the Fighting Scots had just three goals in two games, but it was still a winning formula.

The advancement into the national tournament bracket is the deepest for a Great Midwest program since the 2017 Ohio Valley men's soccer season and the 2017-18 Findlay men's basketball program (Sweet 16).