Kyle Boekeloo and his Dominican University men's soccer teammates were more than a little concerned when Concordia University Wisconsin tied Tuesday's match early in the second half.

"It was kind of shocking at first because it was almost like we didn't know what happened to us," Boekeloo said. "It just hit us all at once."

Not only was a spot in the Northern Athletics Conference Tournament championship match on the line, so was the Stars' five-year conference undefeated streak.

Boekeloo made everything work out fine in the end. The junior defender scored a goal in the 52^nd minute and it held up as the game-winner as Dominican prevailed 3-2 in the semifinals of the NAC Tournament in River Forest.

"As a team we stuck together and put it all together in the end," Boekeloo said.

The Stars (17-1-1) advance to Saturday's final in River Forest at a time to be determined

"Way too exciting," Dominican coach Erick Baumann said. "If someone would have told me five goals were going to be scored in this game I wouldn't have believed them. Both teams have done a very good job all year defensively. To give up two goals is something that we need to go back, figure out where things broke down and get back to work for Saturday's final game."

A 0-0 tie against Concordia (12-6-3) on Oct. 9 in Mequon, Wis., is the only blemish on Dominican's conference season.

This time the clubs remained scoreless until Dominican's Petar Milenkovich pounced on a loose ball near the top of the box and buried a shot high in the left corner of the net in the 38^th minute.

The Stars moved ahead 2-0 a little more than three minutes later when Ryan Roberts worked the ball toward the goal under pressure and slid the ball past Concordia goalkeeper Samuel Ische inside the right post.

But less than a minute later, Concordia's Tyler Harris took a pass from Victor Mendoza near the net and slipped in a goal in the left corner to cut the gap to 2-1.

Then, less than five minutes into the second half, the Falcons tied the match when Jacob Pope received a pass from Mendoza in traffic near the right side of the net and scored.

A little more than three minutes later, Boekeloo put Dominican back in front at 3-2 when he spun near the right side of the box and booted a blast into the left side of the net.

"Those are the kind of goals you score in practice every single day," Boekeloo said. "The ball bounced, you just turn and hit it and hope it goes into the back on the net. Luckily for me and the team, it did."

The three goals marked the most Concordia allowed in a match this season.

"They're the better team," Falcons coach Tom Saleska said. "They overwhelmed us offensively. They're big and fast, and won the balls in the air. We were just hanging on, trying to hold the ball and get some opportunities.

"So 3-2, I can say I'm real happy to score two goals on them. No one's done that but we just did not defend well and we could not get the ball out. I just have to give them credit. They just won it. They were on every ball."

It was the first time Dominican played without goalkeeper Maxwell Gutbrod, who has been sidelined indefinitely with a knee injury. Miguel Mondragon and Dan Cimicata split goal duties for the Stars.

"It was a test for our team," Baumann said. "It's a good opportunity for Miguel and Dan to step in and contribute, and they did. I don't fault them for either goal."