During fall 2010, the Missouri S&T’s men’s soccer team won a share of the Great Lakes Valley Conference’s regular season championship, made its first-ever trip into the NCAA Division II Tournament and finished among the top-ranked teams in the final national rankings.

The Miners were ranked third in the nation in shutout percentage with a school record 11 shutouts in 2010. S&T also finished fifth in Division II in save percentage and 10th in goals against average as a team with a mark of 0.69.

S&T hosted a first-round game in the GLVC Tournament and blanked Bellarmine 3-0, then fell 2-1 in overtime at Northern Kentucky in the semifinals. The Miners earned a trip back to NKU the following weekend to play in the NCAA Midwest Regional and beat 12th-ranked Ashland 3-1 in its opening game, getting goals from Kyle Schraier and David Kekec in the final seven minutes to pull out the win.

But even after overcoming a two-goal deficit on a pair of goals by Schraier in the second half, the Miners’ dream of winning a national championship was snuffed out when national player of the year Steven Beattie scored with just 2:27 to play in regulation time to give Northern Kentucky — the eventual national champion — a 3-2 victory.

S&T sophomore defender Spencer Brinkmeyer and junior goalkeeper Pat McNamee earned All-America honors, while seniors Kekec, Sam Shaffer and Kenny Gravlin all landed all-region honors along with Brinkmeyer and McNamee, who was named the GLVC’s Defensive Player of the Year.

Head coach Joe Ahearn was named Coach of the Year by the GLVC and the National Soccer Coaches Association of America for the NCAA’s Midwest region. The Miners also received the GLVC’s sportsmanship award for men’s soccer.