INDIANAPOLIS - Entering Friday night's match with IPFW, the IUPUI men's soccer team had already secured the No. 2 seed in the upcoming Summit League Tournament. Following a 5-2 win over the Mastodons at Michael A. Carroll Stadium, the Jaguars may have added some swagger to their step heading into the postseason.
Senior Vangel Nacovski paced the IUPUI attack with two goals and an assist while fellow senior Chris Wey added a goal and two assists.
IUPUI capped the regular season with a perfect 5-0 home record, while racking up a season-high five goals in the finale.
Sophomore Eric Weigman opened the scoring in the 12th minute as he banged a loose ball through a scrum after Nacovski set up the play with a lofted corner kick.
Weigman's fourth goal of the season accounted for all of the scoring in the game's first 70 minutes. From that point on, scoring came fast and furious, with IUPUI (7-10-1, 5-1-0 Summit) getting the better of the matchup.
Senior Adrian Conrad made his final home game memorable by notching his fourth goal of the year in the 71st minute. Wey launched a centering pass into the six-yard box, where Conrad put an initial header on net, forcing IPFW's Josh Howell to make a superb diving save. Conrad perservered though, blasting the rebound into the open net.
Less than two minutes later, IPFW (3-13-2, 0-6-0 Summit) cut the lead in half when Ben Haifley laced a tough angle shot past IUPUI goalkeeper David Barszczowski for his second goal of the season.
From there, IUPUI reeled off three goals in just over two minutes to end any doubt.
Nacovski struck first when he rolled a diagonal shot past Howell, thanks to a drop pass from Weigman. Moments later, Wey earned - and finished - a penalty kick after he was pulled down from behind just to the right of the goal.
Nacovski capped the spurt thanks to the best passing sequence of the evening. Wey threaded a lead pass to senior Louie Leger, who chested the ball down to a streaking Nacovski. IUPUI's three-time First Team All-Conference honoree chipped a shot over Howell, who had challenged off his back line. It was Nacovski's eighth score of the season.
IPFW's Boomer Roller added some respectability with six seconds left when he finished a feed from Haifley, beating IUPUI reserve goalkeeper Peter Brasovan.
IUPUI outshot IPFW 19-14 on the night and 10-9 on net. Barszczowski made four saves to improve to 6-3-1 on the season in goal. Howell made five saves for the 'Dons.
The Jaguars will host the Summit League Tournament next weekend at Kuntz Stadium with the matchups yet to be determined. IUPUI will play in the 5:00 p.m. match on Friday afternoon.
