EVANSVILLE, Ind. – The University of Southern Indiana men's soccer team enters post-season play for the first time since 2012 when it travels to Rockhurst University Sunday for the first round of the Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament. The kick-off for eighth-seeded USI and top-seeded Rockhurst is 1 p.m. in Kansas City, Missouri.
 
The Screaming Eagles (8-6-3, 6-6-3 GLVC) earned a berth in the league's tournament after defeating Bellarmine University, 2-0, Wednesday evening in Louisville, Kentucky. USI secured victory on a back heel goal from freshman Kasper Bjoro, while senior Michael Sass added an insurance goal on a header off of a corner kick.
 
Senior defender Josh Weinzapfel leads USI for the season with a team-best 16 points on six goals and four assists. The aforementioned Bjoro sits second for the Eagles with five goals in his freshman campaign. The five goals by Bjoro are the most by a freshman Eagle since Jeffrey McClure tallied nine in 2009.
 
Between the posts, the Eagles have two capable goalkeepers in senior Auston Bruder and sophomore Adam Zehme. Bruder is 2-3-2 with a 1.80 goals against average (GAA), while Zehme is 6-3-1 this fall with a 0.78 GAA, including five shutouts. Zehme ranks 18^th nationally with a .830 save percentage and 25^th in the country in GAA.
 
The berth in the GLVC Tournament gives the Eagles a shot at their 11th conference title in men's soccer. USI won the first six league titles (1979-84) and a string of four-straight between 1988 and 1991.
 
Standing in the way in the first round are the seventh-ranked Hawks of Rockhurst (13-1-2, 13-1-1 GLVC). The Hawks, who finished their regular season with a 1-0 win over William Jewell College, defeated the Eagles on September 25, 3-1.
 
USI trails the all-time series with Rockhurst, 1-15-3, including a 2-0 loss to the Hawks in the semifinals of the 2012 GLVC Men's Soccer Tournament.
 
The GLVC Tournament semi-finals and championship match will be played at the highest-remaining seed November 6 and November 8.