“I am starting to run out of adjectives to describe the type of season this team is having,” said MVNU coach Paul Furey. “I am just so proud of them. We talked before the match that a win against the No. 1 team in the country at the national tournament is unthinkable, but we have done things all season that may have shocked other people. However, we believe in ourselves and what we are capable of doing. Right now, what we are capable of still remains to be seen. I know these guys think they can win a national championship, but right now we want to just work to extend our stay a little longer by winning our next match.”

In the first half, the Blue Raiders (18-2-1), the No. 3 seed in the tournament, posted a 13-3 lead in shots that included a 4-1 edge in shots on goal. Lindsey Wilson entered the match with the most National Championship wins (35) of any team in the tournament field with seven NAIA national titles in the past 13 years. The Blue Raiders were also ranked No. 1 in the poll the last five weeks of the year.

The second half was much the same as the first half with Lindsey Wilson compiling a 16-3 margin in total shots and a 5-1 edge in shots on goal.

However, the No. 14 seed Cougars (17-3-2) took advantage of one of its offensive forays when junior midfielder Chris Mast made a run down the right flank and slipped a pass in front of the net to senior forward Adam Worrall (above), who finished off the play like he has all year with his team-leading 23rd goal of the season to give MVNU a 1-0 lead in the 69th minute.

The goal, which was also the 45th of Worrall’s career to move him into a tie for third place in school history with former Cougar standout Chip Wall, would also prove to be the 10th game-winning goal of the season for Worrall as MVNU was able to withstand every offensive attack by the Blue Raiders over the final 21 minutes to post the impressive victory and improve to 5-1-1 against Top 25 teams this year.

“Adam’s goal was once again a phenomenal goal,” said Furey. “He just continues to do what he does to make us successful. Chris really played a tremendous match and set Adam up so nicely on the goal. He turned the defender around and played a perfect ball.”

Junior goalkeeper Alex Stout (right) put together one of the best performances of his outstanding career as he stopped nine shots and made several other key plays that prevented shots from being taken as he notched his 13th shutout of the season and the 25th shutout of his career - extending his school records in both categories. Meanwhile, Michael Smith registered two saves for Lindsey Wilson. The Blue Raiders finished with a 29-6 advantage in total shots and a 9-3 edge in shots on goal, but they were unable to find the back of the net as they were shutout for only the third time this season and the first time in 10 National Championship matches.

“I cannot say enough about Alex’s performance in goal,” said Furey. “We said before the match that he would have to bring his ‘A’ game for us to beat Lindsey Wilson and he definitely did. He was tremendous tonight and came up with big stops and was tough in the air. Our back line was also phenomenal once again.”

MVNU will now advance to a quarterfinal match on Wednesday at 4:30 p.m. PST against the winner of Tuesday’s 4:30 p.m. match between No. 11 seed Westmont (Calif.) College (11-6-2) and unseeded Baker (Kan.) University (14-6-2).

“We are in a great situation in that we can sit back and wait to see who we play next,” said Furey. “We have a day of rest tomorrow while we see our next opponent battle things out. We are looking forward to what will happen on Wednesday.”

In other second round action on Monday, No. 2 seed University of Rio Grande held off No. 15 seed Madonna (Mich.) University 2-1, unseeded University of Mobile (Ala.) cruised past unseeded Dana (Neb.) University 7-0, and No. 1 seed Oklahoma City University out-lasted host Fresno Pacific 2-1 in double overtime in the final match of the night.

Complete NAIA National Championship Coverage