St. Bonifacius, Minn. – The Crown men's soccer team is hitting their stride in October and scoring goals for fun.  The Polars put three first half goals past Northwestern and then saw out the match for a 3-1 victory on Saturday night, putting them in the driver's seat for qualification into the UMAC postseason tournament.

The three points moved the Polars into fourth place in the UMAC table with four matches left to play in the regular season.  The Polars sit two points clear of UNW and four points above both Minnesota Morris and North Central.  Those four teams will all have nearly identical schedules down the stretch, with each team playing the current top three of UW-Superior, Bethany Lutheran, and Northland, and last place Martin Luther. 

On this night, like so many in the past few weeks, Crown struck quickly, jumping into a 1-0 lead just 3:09 into the match when Tim Jaeger got in behind the UNW Defense and unselfishly slid a perfect ball across the box for Joaquin Silva who did well to place his first-time shot into the back of the net.

Those two would recreate nearly the same goal in the 18^th minute, with Jaeger once again getting behind the defense and squaring to Silva for another easy goal.

Jaeger would turn provider a third time in the first half, this time finding Juan Fernando Arriaga with a clever first-time ball on the counterattack after Silva evaded a defender and played him through.  The three assists equaled Sam Eckman's single-match record from 2016, and Jaeger's nine assists on the season now give him the single-season mark for assists set by Kyle Brubaker way back in 2009. 

The Eagles did manage to get one back before the break, scoring in the 42^nd minute, but the Polars were able to see out the game and claim the victory, thanks in part to seven saves from Leo Roque. 

The Polars will host Bethany Lutheran on Wednesday and every match from here on out will be massive as the team looks to get back to the UMAC postseason.