SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio (Oct. 31) - The Wheeling Jesuit University men's soccer team advanced past Notre Dame (Ohio) to the Mountain East Conference (MEC) Championship match 5-4 on penalty kicks after a scoreless 110 minutes Wednesday afternoon in the semifinals of the tournament.

The No. 3 seed Cardinals (10-5-3) now await the decision match between No. 1 seed Charleston and No. 4 seed Urbana which is scheduled later tonight at 7 p.m. in Charleston, West Virginia. The top-remaining seed will host the MEC Championship Game on Sunday, November 4 (Time TBD). Meanwhile, The Falcons will now await to see if their name is called during the NCAA Division II selection show after posting a mark of 14-3-1 this season.

The game remained scoreless after 110 minutes of play, sending the match into penalty kicks. Both team's first two attempts found the back of the net, including successful tries by senior Jordan Simpson (Brampton, Ontario/St. Edmund Campion) and freshman Tore Naess (Surnadal, Norway/Kristiansund).

Notre Dame was first to shoot in the third round of PKs, but sophomore goalkeeper Josh Zimmerman (Pittsburgh, Pa./Franklin Regional) guessed correctly and stopped the attempt to keep the score evened at 2-2.

Each team's next two PK attempts were successful, setting the stage for sophomore defender Alvaro Garrido (Sevilla, Spain) to try and clinch the match on Wheeling Jesuit's fifth attempt. Garrido slotted the ball to the top-center of the net and past the Notre Dame goalkeeper to the delight of the Cardinal team, who rushed the field to celebrate the victory.

Notre Dame held a 14-to-9 advantage in shots, but only a narrow 3-to-2 edge in shots on goal for the match. Wheeling Jesuit was held to only one shot attempt during the two overtime sessions.

The first 90 minutes were played cautiously by both squads, as both team's kept things tight in the offensive zones. Notre Dame had the better opportunities but Zimmerman played a huge role in keeping the clean sheet for the Cardinals.

Wheeling Jesuit was making its first appearance in the MEC Tournament since 2015, when it was defeated in the first-round by Charleston.

The last time the Cardinals appeared in the championship match was 2014. During that run, WJU went on the road to defeat Notre Dame, but fell to Charleston in the title match.

Wheeling Jesuit will await the winner of the Charleston/Urbana match later tonight. The Cardinals lost both meetings to each team during the regular-season, but were one of only two teams to score a goal on defending-National Champion Charleston.