GLVC Soccer: Drury Panthers Capture Crown!

Drury Panthers – 1
NKU Norse – 0
Senior forward Steve Wilczewski punched in the game-winning goal in the 78th minute to lift top-seeded Drury to a 1-0 victory over second-seed Northern Kentucky for the Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament championship on a sunny Sunday afternoon in front of 504 fans at Harrison Stadium.

SLIDE SHOW available below (171 photos)

Wilczewski’s team-leading 16th goal of the season lifted the Panthers to 20-1-0, avenged their only loss, and assured DU, ranked third nationally in the latest NSCAA/adidas Top 25 poll, of hosting the NCAA-II Midwest Regional next Friday and Sunday at Harrison. The official announcement will come at 6 p.m. Monday from the NCAA Selection Committee.

Sunday, the Panthers were in the mood to savor the moment of not only claiming the regular GLVC title with a 13-1 mark, but validating it officially by winning the post-season tournament and the official status as league champions – a first for the DU men’s soccer program.

“We’d taken pride in finishing top of the GLVC regular season, but the guys did know that if they wanted to bring home any hardware, they had to win the tournament,” Drury coach Ryan wan said. “The guys wanted it bad, and I’m extremely proud of the way they fought through. NKU is a very good team. It was truly a battle for 90 minutes.”

It was the seventh game-winning goal of the season and 11th of his career for the Springfield Glendale product, who also came up the clincher in DU’s 3-2 victory over Bellarmine in overtime in the GLVC Tourney semifinals on Friday. It was also Wilczewski’s 34th goal of his career, which already has him in second place on the all-time DU charts and inched him closer to the record 37 scored by John Pedroli from 1999-2002.

“Stevie’s a very confident player and works so hard that he creates opportunities right through the end of the game,” Swan said.

And it broke up a tremendously even match, a defensive struggle that saw the only goal scored when Wilczewski cleaned up a miss by Micah Whorton – who registered his school-record 15th assist on the play – and saw NKU have to replace injured keeper Keith Kelly afterward when it found the net at the 78:43 mark.

From there, the Panthers buckled down and warded off several attempts by the Norse (15-5-2), as DU sophomore keeper Stephen Conner came up with six crucial saves in registering his school-record 13th shutout of the season and the 14th by the Panthers, also a new team mark.

“Those guys in the back, especially the defenders, have kind of been our unsung heroes all year,” said Swan, in his first season as DU’s head coach. “They came up big again.”

The Panthers and Norse could be on a collision course for a third meeting in Springfield next weekend, as its likely that DU, Northern Kentucky and Lewis and a representative from the GLIAC (Ashland or Tiffin) will likely make up the four-team regional field when the official announcement comes on Monday.