WATERTOWN, Wis. -- The Sabercats had their season come to a disappointing end in the NCCAA Midwest Region Championship today, falling 3-0 to Grace Christian University.

With the loss, the Sabercats see their season end with an NCCAA Midwest Region record of 2-5-1 and a 1-1 showing at this weekend's regional tournament.

OVERVIEW

• Result: Maranatha 0-3 No. 8 Grace Christian
• Venue: Maranatha Baptist University
• Location: Watertown, Wis.
• Event: NCCAA Midwest Region Championship
• Attendance: 209
• Record: MBU (3-14-1), GCU (7-7-4) 

STORY

The game was tight right from the opening whistle, but Grace Christian poured the pressure on and created all the scoring chances early on, most of them coming from free kicks and corner kicks. The Sabercats had their backs against the wall and did everything they could do to keep the Tigers off the scoresheet.

The Tigers' pressure finally paid off in the 23rd minute, when Nathan Davis converted a penalty kick to put the visitors ahead 1-0 - a score that would hold going into halftime.

Thanks to the Sabercats' determined defending, the Tigers really didn't have many quality shots in the second half, but Rukundo Masengesho created a chance for himself and made no mistake, firing a low shot into the bottom right corner from outside the box for an unexpected goal. Grace 2, Maranatha 0.

Robbie Lemon had the only shot of the day for Maranatha, but his close-range attempt was blocked out for a corner kick by Jose Luis Vicario, the Grace goalkeeper.

Just when the Sabercats sent everyone forward, the Tigers scored the dagger. Reese Erickson did the honors, finding space behind the Sabercats' back line and scoring his breakaway attempt to put the game away and secure the season sweep, the championship, and the ticket to Nationals - their sixth in the last seven years.

--

Maranatha Starters: 0- Balyo, 2- T. Holloway, 3- Doese, 7- Lemon, 8- Davis (C), 9- Wright (C), 11- Beachell, 16- Kirchner, 18- Mixell, 19- Miller, 20- P. Holloway (C)

STATS

• Shots: Maranatha 1-17 Grace Christian
• Last time: Maranatha fell to Grace Christian twice this season, 0-4 away and 0-2 at home
• Series: Maranatha leads the all-time series against Grace Christian 17-11

OPPONENTS

• Grace Christian competes with Maranatha in the NCCAA Midwest Region
• Grace Christian finished the 2022 season with a record of 16-4-2
• Grace Christian fell 0-1 to Bob Jones in the 2022 NCCAA National Championship

NEXT

A full recap of the season will be forthcoming at mbusabercats.com.