EUGENE, Ore. – The Northwest Christian University men's soccer team will make their debut foray into the Cascade Collegiate Conference Playoffs on Friday afternoon, a game ten years in the making.
 
NCU had a memorable and record-breaking trek through the regular season and landed with the No. 4 seed for the tournament, giving them a favorable match-up with the No. 5 seeded Oregon Tech Owls when the pair clash at 2:00 pm on Friday.
 
The Beacons come into the game with a record of 7-7-2 on the season and will look to tie the school win record, matching the eight victories from the 2016 season. NCU was also 7-4-2 in the CCC, giving them their first ever winning record in conference play and a new record for victories, easily eclipsing the old mark of four wins.
 
NCU has done it on the backs of their defense, a unit that included three All-CCC honorees in sophomore keeper Yayo Olvera and junior defenders Jesse Figueroa and Tito Gomez. The Beacons allowed just 12 goals in 13 conference games, giving Olvera a 0.88 Goals Against Average between the pipes. The Beacons also shutout seven opponents during the conference slate for the first time in school history.
 
Oregon Tech ended the season strong, going 3-1-1 over the final three weeks of the regular season to move into fifth place with a conference record of 7-5-1, just two points behind NCU in the standings. OIT's strength has lied in the front third as they have worked hard to out-pace opponents this season averaging over two goals per game. They have scored three or more goals in six conference games this season, combining to out-score Carroll and Providence 8-1 last weekend in their final two games.
 
Midfielder Brennan Gazdik earned Second-Team All-Conference honors after collecting two goals and a team-high five assists, but it was honorable-mention duo Trinidad Flores, Lodewijk Bloemzaad and Kelly Kyllo that did a bulk of the scoring, combining for 13 goals and nine assists including five game-winning goals.
 
If the last meeting between the schools is any indication, the Beacons would have to be considered the favorites. The teams faced off in Eugene on September 30 with NCU walking away a 3-0 winners after scoring three first-half goals. The Owls were held to just three shots-on-goal and the Beacons put away the eventual game-winner just 104 seconds into the contest on a goal from Jesse Figueroa. All the scoring, in fact, was finished by the 17th minute of the game.
 
The winner of Friday's contest moves on to Saturday's semifinals, which re-seed based on the outcome of all of the quarterfinal matches. The highest remaining seed will face the lowest remaining seed while the second-highest remaining seed will take on the second-lowest remaining seed. Both of those games will kick off at approximately 4:00 pm.