THE FINAL WHISTLE
Final: UIndy 2 – #20 Southern Indiana 0
Records: UIndy 10-5-4 | Southern Indiana 13-3-3
Location: Michael Carroll Stadium – Indianapolis, Ind.
 
INDIANAPOLIS – Led by a stifling defensive effort and a pair of second half tallies, the University of Indianapolis men's soccer team finds themselves in a familiar spot – the finals of the Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) tournament.
 
Casey Zimmerman and James Jenkins had goals as the No. 7-seeded Greyhounds knocked off another nationally-ranked team in the conference tournament, downing #20 Southern Indiana, 2-0.
 
GAME CHANGER
One of the team's top defensive players, Zimmerman stepped into the offensive spotlight in the 71^st minute. Following a USI foul that put the ball just outside the 18-yard box, Zimmerman darted into the box and banged home a free kick from Brad Shaw for his first goal of the year.
 
It's the second career GLVC Tournament game-winner for the senior from Fort Wayne, Ind. Back on Nov. 7, 2014, Zimmerman scored in the final minute to give UIndy a 1-0 win over Drury, advancing the Hounds to the GLVC championship game, a match the Hounds would win to capture their first GLVC crown.
 
BEYOND THE BOX SCORE
-The Greyhounds held the Screaming Eagles without a quality scoring chance throughout the first half, out-shooting USI 8-5 in the opening 45 minutes. UIndy goalkeeper Miles Palmer made the toughest of his three saves in the 51^st minute, stoning Riley Belding on a screamer from 20 yards out.
 
-Freshman James Jenkins put the game out of reach in the 84^th minute, taking a centering pass from Evan Smith and banging one into a wide open cage for his team-leading seventh goal of the year.
 
-It won't show up in the box score, but freshman Andy Dunkin shut down a pair of USI one-on-one opportunities. In the 48^th minute, he cut in front of Hayden Sovar just as he was getting ready to let go of a shot in close. He repeated the act in the 78^th minute, denying Kasper Bjoro a clean look at Palmer in tight.
 
-UIndy held the Screaming Eagles to just one shot attempt in the second half, finishing the game with a 14-6 edge on the shot clock.
 
THE FINAL WORD
Senior Casey Zimmerman: "Throughout the course of the year, we've been playing with a lot of young players and those guys are really finding their stride late in the year and we've really meshed late in the season."
 
"It's always nice to get a goal and to get one in a game this big is even sweeter. You work as hard as you do to get a goal and put your team in front and in a position to win a game against a nationally ranked team."
 
Head coach John Higgins: "We kept our composure really well tonight and we played with a lot of discipline. In the past, when we had a game we thought we should be winning but couldn't find the net, we would get frustrated and start to take bad fouls. There was none of that tonight. We kept doing the right things and we got rewarded tonight."
 
"We didn't give away any chances and we closed out on any of their one-on-one chances and we just stayed within ourselves defensively. USI knows how to put teams away, it's a big reason why they won 13 games. We clamped down when they were on the rush and we did a great job defending set plays tonight."
 
"At half, we told our guys to stay positive. The best thing we did in the second half was really get forward and we got great movement from our strikers. We also did a great job on set plays tonight. We got great runs tonight and got everyone did their job when we had looks on set plays."
 
UP NEXT
Standing in the way of the Greyhounds' second GLVC championship is the top-seed in the tournament and the No. 6 team in the country, the Rockhurst Hawks. It will be a rematch of the 2013 GLVC championship game, a match the Hawks took, 2-1.
 
Kickoff from Michael A. Carroll Stadium is set for 3:00 p.m. on Sunday afternoon.