Nov. 9, 2003

EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - Things didn't go well for the Lewis University men's soccer team in the opening moments of Sunday's Great Lakes Valley Conference Championship final against Southern Illinois Edwardsville.

SIUE, ranked 10th in NCAA Division II and owner of a 15-game winning streak, took the lead just 3:18 into the contest on Pete Cacciatore's unassisted goal.

But Lewis, renowned for its stifling defense during head coach Evan Fiffles' long tenure, blanked the Cougars the rest of the way and scored three unanswered goals to claim a 3-1 triumph and the program's seventh GLVC title.

The league championship is the program's fifth under Fiffles, who has guided Lewis to a 163-65-20 record (.698) in 12 seasons.

The Flyers (12-5-2), ranked No. 5 in the Central Region and winners of 10 of their last 11 games, will find out Monday if they are the third and final Central Region team to receive an invitation to the 24-team NCAA Division II Championship. Truman State and SIUE are assured of bids.

Lewis certainly will pass fourth-ranked Southern Indiana after defeating USI in Friday's GLVC semifinals, which means the NCAA must decide between the Flyers and third-ranked Rockhurst. Lewis has a slightly better winning percentage against Central Region opponents, but Rockhurst beat the Flyers in September.

It didn't take long for the Flyers to respond to Cacciatore's tally. At 7:31, Alejandro Blinder (Mike Dahm assist) scored his fifth goal of the season from just three yards out to pull Lewis even.

The 1-1 score held until the 59:20 mark, when Dahm's fifth goal of the year from 10 yards away (unassisted) gave the Flyers the lead. Lewis tacked on its final goal at 89:36 when Cathal Brady scored an unassisted goal, his team-leading 13th of the season, on a length-of-the-field breakaway.

Although SIUE (16-3) edged Lewis 17-15 in total shots, the Flyers peppered Cougar goalkeeper Bret Richardson with 10 shots on goal. Lewis goalkeeper Jordan Gustman stopped seven of the eight SIUE shots on net.

In losing its first game to a conference opponent this season, defending GLVC champion SIUE allowed three goals for the first time and yielded more than one goal for just a third time in 2003.