MIAMI GARDENS, Fla.—The 22nd-ranked and No. 2 seeded Embry-Riddle men's soccer team advanced to the Sun Conference finals with a 2-0 defeat of No. 3 seed Florida Memorial Friday afternoon.  The Eagles (12-4-2, 7-2-0) used two second half goals to get past the Lions (10-8-1, 7-2-1) in a very physical contest.

The competition proved to be intense on the pitch from the opening whistle as both Embry-Riddle and Florida Memorial combined for six fouls and a yellow card in the first seven minutes of play.

The Lions and Eagles shared offensive possession in the first half, but it was the Lions that had the majority of goal scoring opportunities early in the match. Florida Memorial had a chance to pull ahead of the Eagles at the 7:17 mark when Bruno Munoz got off a shot and at the 8:25 mark when Paulo Vaz ripped a shot, but Sun Conference Defensive Player of the Year Nils Carlson was there for two great saves for the Blue and Gold.

Neither team threatened to score again in the first half as possession went back and forth for the remainder of play. Play on the pitch continued to be physical, however, as 12 more fouls and four more cautions were issued. The Lions bested the Eagles in shots (6-2) and corners (4-0), but the score at half remained tied at 0-0.  

Right after the whistle to begin the second half, Florida Memorial had two more chances to take a lead. Just 17 seconds in, the Lions Ignacio Brown fired a shot that was saved by Carlson and one minute later Carlson saved another opportunity from the Lions off of a Vaz header.

Play continued to go back and forth until the 57th minute of play when Embry-Riddle's offense began to find their pace. The Eagles nearly took a lead at the 57:58 mark when a Sam Fairhurst corner found Alan Vezza for a header that barely missed the frame.

ERAU continued to pressure the Lions defense and finally in the 61st minute struck for a goal. Fairhurst, the Sun Conference Player of the Year, had the ball on the left side of the pitch just past midfield. He was able to find senior Michaeld Donald wide open on a run coming down the middle of the field. Donald gathered the pass from Fairhurst and ripped a shot that beat Daniel DeSouza and put the Eagles up 1-0.

Four minutes later the Eagles added to their 1-0 advantage when Florida Memorial's went down a man. Guido Peralta received his second yellow card of the game and it was 10 on 11 for the remaining 30 minutes of the game.

The Eagles didn't take long to capitalize with a one man advantage as they were able to go up 2-0 just over a minute later. Fairhurst intercepted a pass on the right side of the pitch and wisely switched fields to find Jacob Stevenback. Stevenback collected the pass and was able to finish with a shot that beat a diving DeSouza in the bottom left corner.

Florida Memorial was able to take five more shots in the contest, but Carlson was able to deny every scoring opportunity. The Vastra, Sweden native collected eight saves in the contest and picked up his ninth clean sheet of 2011 which tied the Embry-Riddle single season record for shutouts.

A total of 34 fouls, eight yellow cards and two red cards were given in the contest. Florida Memorial outshot the Eagles, 15-12 and bested them in corner kicks, 9-3, but it was ERAU that came out on top with a 2-0 victory.

With the win, the Eagles advance to the Sun Conference championship game against No. 5 seed SCAD Savannah on Saturday at 2 p.m. The last time the Bees and the Eagles met was on Oct. 24 in Daytona Beach, where SCAD Savannah came out on top in a close match, 1-0.