WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. - The West Liberty University men's soccer team is set to make its first playoff appearance in program history Tuesday afternoon. The Hilltoppers earned the #6 seed in the Mountain East Conference tournament and will battle #3 seed Notre Dame College in the quarterfinals at Mueller Field in South Euclid, Ohio. Kickoff for the match is set for 3:00 pm.

After securing a point in three of the first four matches of the year, West Liberty  suffered an eight game losing streak. WLU kept fighting and picked up huge points at Frostburg State and versus W.Va. Wesleyan in draws along with a win over Concord put them right back in the playoff hunt.

It all came down to the final game of the regular season versus crosstown rival Wheeling on Saturday. West Liberty needed to win and they would jump into the #6 spot in the MEC. After a scoreless first half, Wheeling capitalized on a penalty kick in the 66th minute to go up 1-0. The resilient Hilltoppers battled right back and tied it up just six minutes later off a goal by Oskar Voges assisted by Tim Stickland. Just four minutes later, Vitor Otsuka dribbled through two defenders into the box and sent a pass to the top of the six where Joseph Fonagy one-timed it in for the Hilltopper lead. Noah Underwood helped close out the win with a pair of saves in the final 24 minutes.

Fonagy's game winner was his fourth of the year, leading the Hilltopper offensive attack. Ten different Hilltoppers have scored their 18 goals this season. Noah Underwood ranks 2nd in the MEC in saves and saves per game with 90 total and 6.00 per game in goal for West Liberty.

Notre Dame enters the match ranked #21 in the country by the United Soccer Coaches. The Falcons have won their last four and have not allowed a goal in that span. The Falcons have posted 11 shutouts on the year and keeper Pedro Alves is tied for the conference lead with eight of his own through 14 starts. Offensively, Taylor Dyson leads the charge with 11 goals, which is tied for second in the league. Three more Falcons rank in the top-10 MEC goal scorers, Connor O'Reilly has nine, while Ned Dry and Simao Coelho have seven scores each.

The teams battled to a scoreless draw in the first meeting on September 7 in West Liberty. Notre Dame held the advantage in shots, 11-3 and 8-2 on goal, as well as corner kicks, 9-1, but the 'Topper defense stood strong led by Noah Underwood with six saves. The second meeting in South Euclid on 9/25 was all Falcons by a score of 5-0 and a shot count of 30-1.

Live video and statistics will be available courtesy of the Notre Dame College Sports Information Department at the links below along with live updates from @WLU_MSoccer on Twitter.
LIVE VIDEO LINK  |  LIVE STATS LINK  |  @WLU_MSoccer Twitter