Needing a win to keep its top-3 status heading to its most important tournament of the season next weekend, the Grand Canyon University Men's Club Soccer came off the deck to come from behind and defeat Northern Arizona University, 2-1, Sunday afternoon in Flagstaff. The win kept the Lopes without a conference loss on the season (7-2-1 overall, 6-0 SCSL), and virtually cemented their place atop one of the four pools that will commence the 2024 National Intramural and Recreational Sports Association Region V Tournament Friday, November 1 in Omaha, Nebraska.
 
Knowing that a victory over the top team in the Southwest Collegiate Soccer League could bolster their chances for an at-large bid into the regional tournament, the Lumberjacks (2-2-2 SCSL) set the tone early Sunday, scoring the only goal of the first half on a penalty kick just 10 minutes into the contest. The Lumberjacks did a good job of keeping the powerful Lopes' offense in check for the first 45 minutes of play.
 
Coming out of the halftime locker room, however, the Lopes' aggressiveness took over as junior forward Brian Asaije knotted the match up in the 49^th minute. The stalemate stayed that way until the 65^th minute when fellow junior attacker Joseph Butzke found the back of the NAU net to give the Lopes the lead. GCU's defense took over from there, finishing off 80 straight minutes of shutout ball to secure the victory.
 
The Lopes will find out within the next 24 hours what their draw will be for the 16-team regional tournament, which will decide who earns the trip to Round Rock, Texas, for the NIRSA National Championships the weekend before Thanksgiving. The Lopes – who have not reached nationals thus far in their nine-year history - are currently 3^rd in the NIRSA Rankings, so barring an unforeseen rankings drop - would be the top seed in their four-team pool when play begins ten days from now.