GAMBIER, Ohio – With Wednesday's 5-1 win over Oberlin College, the No. 12-ranked Kenyon College Lords soccer team secured a spot in next week's North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament. The victory also put the Lords one win away from claiming another conference regular-season title.

As one of top four teams in the conference, Kenyon (14-1-2, 6-0-2 NCAC) will make its eighth straight appearance in the NCAC Tournament. The final seeding for the tournament will be determined after Saturday's games, but the Lords can now mark an NCAC semifinal contest on their calendar.

Wednesday, the Lords shrugged off the rainy conditions at Mavec Field and went right at the Oberlin defense. Just 56 seconds from the start, sophomores Tomas Munoz Reyes and Sam Carson connected for the first Kenyon goal. With Munoz Reyes supplying the assist, Carson let loose a low shot from the top of the box. It found its way into the left corner of the Yeomen's net for Carson's sixth goal of the season and his second in the team's last two games.

About 15 minutes later, Kenyon doubled its lead. Scott Upton, another sophomore, stole the ball away from Oberlin. He turned and drove into the Yeomen box, where he beat two defenders and then ripped a shot, from the right side, past Oberlin goalkeeper Fiachra McDonagh.

Oberlin's only response in the first half was a shot in the 29th minute from Nic Jandeleit. His attempt deflected off a Kenyon defender and clipped the post on its way out of bounds.

Upton factored into the Lords' next goal, too. Eight minutes into the second half, Upton delivered a ball up the middle to classmate Sebastian Gaese, who beat a defender and slid his shot under McDonagh, who was diving to make a play on it.

Upton's three-point game against the Yeomen included his fifth goal of the season and his second assist. Gaese's goal was also his fifth of the season.

Less than four minutes later, Munoz Reyes emerged again to set up the Lords' next tally. He lofted a pass from the left side of the box to the right, where junior Sam Hosmer-Quint headed it into the right side of the Yeomen's net, for his second goal of the season.

Wednesday's two assists were the first two of the season for Munoz Reyes.

Oberlin (7-10-0, 4-4-0 NCAC) finally got on the board in the 70th minute. That's when Jandeleit produced a left-footed laser from about 20 yards out. His shot found the upper right corner of the Lords net, giving Kenyon goalkeeper Ian McInturf no chance at stopping it.

That was one of 11 shots for the Yeomen, who yielded 30 shots and 17 corner kicks to the Lords.

One of those last few corners resulted in Kenyon's final goal. From the left, freshman Adam Silberg sent the corner kick into the far side of the box. Collyn Carpenter, a junior, got under the entry and sent another header over the Oberlin goal line for his first score of the season.

Now riding a 15-game unbeaten streak, Kenyon will play its final regular-season game on Saturday at home against DePauw University. A win over the Tigers would give the Lords their fifth straight NCAC regular-season championship and the No. 1 seed in next week's tournament action.