Union Secures Men's Soccer Tournament Championship

BARBOURVILLE, Ky. - Union Commonwealth has relied heavily on its defense all season, and that was no different on Saturday as it defeated No. 2 Milligan 1-0 in the 2025 Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) Men's Soccer Tournament championship game.

The shutout was the Bulldogs' 15th of the season as they have surrendered only five all season. Union Commonwealth has not allowed a goal since Oct. 11, recording shutouts over its last six matches. The Bulldogs have not allowed a goal in over 595 minutes of play.

After a scoreless first half, top-seeded Union Commonwealth broke through in the 50th minute when Orioal Perez's shot was saved, but Ron-Jay Watson was there to punch in the rebound for the 1-0 lead.

Milligan tried to find the equalizer. However, when the Bulldog defense shut down the attack, Gabriel Mendoza was there to make the save as he finished with four on the night.

Watson was named the Tournament MVP. Joining him on the All-Tournament Team were Perez, Laurin Furmeier, and Patrick Taylor from Union Commonwealth; Adria Alles, Mavroudis Katsantonis, Freddie Zinn of Milligan; Euan Brindley and Marco Mandelka of Truett McConnell; and Mahmoud Shech-Ichya and Jakub Rus of Pikeville.

Since Union received the automatic berth to the NAIA National Championship Tournament as the regular-season champion, Milligan receives the league's second automatic berth as the tournament runner-up. The national tournament bracket will be announced at 6 p.m. ET on Nov. 14.

This is the first time Union has won the AAC Tournament since 2019.

TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE
Friday, Oct. 31 (at the higher seed's home site)
Game 1 - No. 1 Union Commonwealth (11-2-4) def. No. 8 Spartanburg Methodist (4-8-4), 2-0 (box)
Game 2 - No. 4 Pikeville (10-5-3) def. No. 5 Tennessee Wesleyan (8-8-1) at, 3-2 (box)
Game 3 - No. 2 Milligan (10-5-2) def. No. 7 Reinhardt (5-9-2), 6-0 (box)
Game 4 - No. 3 Truett McConnell (10-4-3) def. No. 6 Columbia (6-7-4), 1-0 (box)

Tuesday, Nov. 4 (at the higher seed's home site)
Game 5 - No. 1 Union Commonwealth (12-2-4) def. No. 4 Pikeville (10-6-3), 2-0 (box)
Game 6 - No. 2 Milligan (11-5-2) def. No. 3 Truett McConnell (10-5-3), 1-0 (box)

Saturday, Nov. 8 (at the higher seed's home site)
Game 7 - Championship Game - No. 1 Union Commonwealth (13-2-4) def. No. 2 Milligan (11-6-2), 1-0 (box)