MURFREESBORO, N.C. – Southern Wesleyan men's soccer will play to defend their NCCAA South Region championship after a 3-1 victory over Shorter in the semifinals on Thursday.  The title match is set for Saturday at 1 p.m.

The Warriors (13-6) took an early lead as Joao Oliveira scored his fifth of the season in the 11^th minute.  Oliveira scored off a rebound from a shot by Alejandro Sanchez who picked up his team-leading sixth assist of the season. 

The game stayed that way until the early moments of the second half when Irvin Espinal got behind the Warriors back line and beat a drawn out Ruben Rodriguez.  It seemed the two teams were destined for overtime as the match drew on but that all changed in the 87^th minute.

The Warriors were awarded a penalty kick which Bruno Liozzi stepped up and converted for his 10^th goal of the season.  It was his second game-winner in as many days and his fourth of the season.  Jonathan Ruiz added an extra goal in the 90^th minute as the Hawks were trying to find the equalizer.  It was the fourth of the season for Ruiz.

Both teams were not shy to let the shots fly as they combined to take 50 in the match. Shorter (10-11-1) took 28 while the Warriors countered with 22. In fact, SWU managed just five shots on goal, scoring on three of those while Shorter put seven on target.  Oliveira led all players with nine shots and three on goal.

SWU entered the tournament as the three seed and will face top seed Palm Beach Atlantic in the finals on Saturday at 1 p.m.  PBA defeated the hosts, Chowan, 4-1 on Thursday in the second semifinal.  The Sailfish received a bye in the seven-team tournament and didn't play in Wednesday's first round.

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