GAMBIER, OH – In an effort to continue their North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) title defense, the No. 1-seeded Kenyon College Lords soccer team (16-2, 8-1 NCAC) opened up the NCAC Tournament in a big way when they defeated the No. 4-seeded DePauw University Tigers (11-5-2, 6-3 NCAC) by a score of 4-1 on Wednesday afternoon in Gambier.

After conceding the first goal of the game to DePauw's Jonathan Wheeler, the Lords went on to score four straight goals led by stand-out senior performances from Tony Amolo and Josh Lee. Kenyon went uncontested for the remainder of the game and clinched its second victory over the Tigers in program history.

With the Tigers taking an early advantage behind the boot of Wheeler, Amolo and the Lords capitalized with a goal of their own 19:08 into the match on an assist from senior goalkeeper Sam Clougher to tie the semifinal contest up at 1-1. As the Lords looked to build momentum after the tying goal, sophomore Bret Lowry gave Kenyon the lead at 2-1. Less than three minutes after Amolo's goal, Lowry took a sideline throw from junior Woo Jeon and headed it into the top-left corner of the net.

Clougher continued to display a beautiful performance in goal making some timely saves and allowing the Lords to sustain their lead at the half, 2-1.

Coming out of halftime, both sides exchanged aggressive offensive possessions, but at 61:05, Lee weaved his way through multiple DePauw defenders and finished in the back of the net to build onto Kenyon's lead.

In a game that saw the Lords outshoot the Tigers 16-8, the scoring didn't end for Kenyon as sophomore Brice Koval got into the mix less than seven minutes later. He controlled a ball inside the opposing goal box and beat
DePauw's senior goalkeeper Harrison Glover to take a 4-1 lead and sealed the deal on the Lords' trip back to the NCAC Championship game.

Having played now in four straight NCAC Championship matches, Kenyon will look to capture its third straight conference title when it hosts the winner of tonight's match between No. 3-seeded Wabash College and No. 2-seeded Oberlin College.

The championship will take place at Mavec Field this Saturday at 1:00 p.m. EST in Gambier.