NORTH NEWTON, Kan. – Avila's offense erupted for three goals in a clinical second half, but by that point Bethel had already built a big lead that the Eagles (3-14-1, 2-10-1 KCAC) could not overcome: the Threshers ended Avila's season with a 7-3 victory on Monday night in North Newton.

The game was originally supposed to be played Saturday night but had to be punted to Monday due to persistent bad weather throughout the day across the state of Kansas on Saturday. And so, 48 hours later, the Eagles made the trip west to Newton to try to play their final game of the season again.

The Threshers will be in the KCAC Tournament later this week, and their offense certainly looked the part of a postseason team in this game. Reigning KCAC Offensive Player of the Week Filip Maksimovic scored six minutes into the game, and over the next half hour three other Threshers scored to make the score 4-0 at halftime.

Even with comparably less to play for than Bethel had, Avila went into the second half determined to finish the season on a high note, and that's exactly what the Eagles did. A strong second half from Avila made what could have been an easy night for Bethel a whole lot more difficult, and that effort helped guarantee that the Eagles would finish higher in the final KCAC standings than what they were predicted to at the start of the year.

Malcolm Goswell got the rally started by drawing a foul and burying the resulting penalty kick in the 58^th minute, and less than five minutes later Vincent Escott delivered his fourth goal of the season to bring Avila back to within 4-2. The Threshers had seen enough, stamping out that potential rally with two quick goals engineered by Maksimovic, but Avila kept pace right afterwards courtesy of captain Thomas Mikkelson, who capped off a career year offensively with his fourth goal of the season off a Sam Kanda corner kick to make it 6-3.

Johnathan Fager made a total of six saves for the Eagles in the final game of a largely strong season for the first-year starting goalkeeper, while Bethel's goalies were unable to stop anything: every Avila shot on target amazingly went in as the Eagles matched their season high with three goals. Louis Etienne put a bow on the game with a penalty kick goal for the home side in the final few minutes, closing out a 7-3 win in Avila's final game of the season.

The Threshers will begin postseason play later this week, while the Eagles will now look ahead to 2024 with sights set on a return to the KCAC Tournament next season. Even without a playoff berth and a finish in the lower half of the league table, the Eagles still beat their preseason projection and matched last season's win total with three as the team continues to make serious strides under the guidance of head coach Robert Kelly. The team will lose the services of a few seniors and some others next year, but should continue to make improvements on their path back towards becoming a permanent fixture in the conference conversation.