By Kevin Farr
Murray State Sports Information
Sophomore Lucas Peruzo scored two goals and added an assist to spur the Murray State Aggies to their first-ever Region 2 men's soccer championship Sunday with a 3-0 blanking of defending champ Eastern State College at the Advance Soccer Complex in Enid.

Improving their record to 12-4-1 on the season, the Aggies move on to the NJCAA South District Championship on Saturday where they will host Hill College in Tishomingo for a berth in the National Tournament.

"Today is a prize that shows all the hard work paid off," head coach John Connor commented. "I am very proud of the guys. We said we had to play that extra game on Thursday for a reason and we used the momentum of that for two wins over two of the best teams around. We are just excited about the opportunity to advance and keep playing in the playoffs."

Murray State's strategy going in was to limit the high-powered Eastern offense, which was a tall task especially with the 20-plus mile per hour north wind at the back of the Mountaineers in sub-freezing wind chill conditions. Sophomore goalkeeper Jaron Noble and the Aggie defense however proved up to the task.

Noble notched five first half saves as Eastern controlled the attack most of the half in the offensive end, peppering the net with 12 shots on goal but were turned away on every charge.

The Aggies nearly got on the board just over 11 minutes into the game on an open left-footed shot just outside the box from Caio Felipe. Eastern's keeper made a diving save on the first Murray State shot of the day to keep it scoreless.

Murray's second shot found different results when Peruzo blasted through his team-leading 12^th goal of the season off a Hidemasa Saito centering pass at the 17:17 mark of the first half for a 1-0 advantage.

Connor's club stuck to the defensive game plan with the wind in their face the rest of the half, narrowly avoiding a tying goal from the Mountaineers with just 20 seconds remaining when it deflected off the goal crossbar and high.

"We knew we had to play disciplined and play a counterattack style against the wind, which really isn't our game at all, so that first half was very important," Connor admitted. "Once we got past the first half and were able to get back to our style with the wind at our back I felt really good about our chances."

The Aggies went on the offensive attack immediately after intermission and took less than eight minutes to double the lead when Peruzo picked up his 10^th assist of the year on a corner kick that Carl Murch sliced into the Eastern net at the 52:50 mark.

A rush into the offensive end by the Mountaineers came moments later with a pair of golden scoring chances that Noble managed to turn away with two sensational saves.

Murray State maintained that momentum back into the offensive end and Peruzo smashed a shot from the left wing past the Eastern keeper and into the right side of the net for the commanding 3-0 lead just 10 minutes into the final half.

At that point the Aggies went back to a defensive style to protect the three-goal cushion and worked well as Noble recorded three more saves on six Mountaineer shots on goal down the stretch to preserve his ninth shutout of the season.

"Noble just had a great game in goal and for me was the man of the match," Connor added.