Box Score By Kevin Farr
Murray State Sports Information
STEPHENVILLE, Texas – Ninth-ranked Murray State notched a pair of goals and rode the spectacular play of goalkeeper Francisco Pinochet to a 2-0 win over Ranger College for the Mid-South Men's Soccer District Championship on a rainy Friday afternoon at Tarleton State University.

With the victory the Aggies improved to 18-1 on the season and punched their ticket to the NJCAA Division I Soccer National Championships that begin on November 17 in Wichita, Kansas.

Pinochet posted five saves in the second half, including a pair of spectacular diving stops that kept the Rangers off the scoreboard. It was the Aggies' ninth shutout of the season.

After dodging a pair of early Ranger scoring bids, Murray State went on the offensive in just missing a pair of scoring opportunities from close range. Leo Aquino finally broke the scoreless deadlock in the game's 33^rd minute by blasting a shot into the right side of the net from roughly 25 yards out following a Shuto Ishikawa assist.

With the lead intact, the Aggies went a bit more conservative than normal offensively to preserve that advantage. They found an opening 15 minutes into the second half when Region 2 MVP Ryosuke Miyata got free behind the Ranger midfielders and smashed an unassisted goal past the Ranger keeper.

Three minutes later Pinochet kept the two-goal edge with a diving block to his right against the aggressive Ranger push. He finished the contest with seven saves.

"I thought we performed well," said head coach Alex Morais. "This group deserves to play in the national tournament again.

"It was a very physical game throughout, and our guys did a good job fighting through that. They did well battling even though they tried to get us off our game. After the first goal we were just being patient waiting for another opportunity and Ryosuke got it in the second half. Francisco did a terrific job in net in the second half to keep them off the board."