Box Score St. Louis, Mo., November 6, 2021 – The No. 3 Washington University in St. Louis men's soccer team won its first outright University Athletic Association (UAA) title since 1999 on Saturday evening with a 1-0 victory over No. 10 UChicago at Francis Olympic Field.
The Bears earned their fifth straight shutout as they defeated the Maroons for the first time since 2013.
With the win, the Bears conclude the regular season with a record of 12-2-1 (5-1-1, UAA).
Additionally, WashU punched its ticket officially into the NCAA Championships as an automatic qualifier and will participate in the tournament for the first time since 2016.
For Head Coach Joe Clarke, Saturday's victory marks the fourth UAA title in his career as he will lead the Bears into the postseason for the 11th time.
An early goal in the first five minutes of the contest set the tone for the Bears.
Sergio Rivas scored his eighth goal of the season off a long pass down the field from Shiv Lamba as he broke free from the Maroons' defense and lofted a ball over the keeper.
Leading 1-0, WashU's defense stepped up and made several key stops, including goalkeeper Matt Martin, who provided multiple crucial saves.
Martin accumulated seven saves in the victory and officially reached 100 saves in his WashU career.
WashU's best scoring chance after Rivas' goal was in the 40th minute off a shot attempt from Julian Gancman that just cleared the crossbar on a shot from 20-yards out.
Chicago controlled possession for a majority of the second half. However, the Bears' defense did another outstanding job of containing the Maroons' attack and clearing the ball out of any potential scoring danger.
Martin stepped up with five big saves in the second half, including a critical save in the 64th minute off a header from a corner kick that bounced off top the crossbar.
The Maroons were only able to get one more shot attempt off in the final five minutes of the game, which landed wide.
Statistically, WashU was outshot 14-4 as UChicago also held the edge in corners at 11-0.
Rivas, Lamba, Gancman and Alex Smith each recorded a shot in the win.
WashU will find out who its next opponent is on Monday afternoon during the NCAA selection show.
