"We finished with the top three teams in our conference, which is always a tough task," said head coach Jeff Kidd. "We still played well enough early on to maintain that sixth place finish, which is four spots better than a year ago."

Friends jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the first half, and their offensive attack proved too strong for the Swedes as they tacked on four more goals in the second, defeating Bethany 6-0. "We were really flat coming out and Friends took full advantage of it," Kidd said. "We were never able to recover as the hole just kept getting deeper."

Junior Gildardo Navarro had four shots, three of which were on goal while freshman Johnny Nuthall totaled three shots, in which two were on goal.

"Lately it seems that we are not doing the little things right," said Kidd. "We want to stab in at the ball when we should simply contain the man to slow down the pace of play. The good news is that we can fix these little problems with some hard work at practice."

The squad headed south to take on McPherson College Halloween night for the last regular season conference match. The Bulldogs jumped out to a 2-0 lead by halftime. McPherson would add one more goal in the second half while still holding the Swedes scoreless, handing Bethany a 3-0 loss.

"I was proud of the effort we gave against McPherson," Kidd said. "This was something that I hadn't seen from our team since the Bethel game. I know we didn't get the result that we wanted, but the work we did early in our conference season helped us to finish in sixth place and give us a berth in the KCAC tourney. I am excited and proud for my young men; they set some goals early in the season and it is great to see them achieve what they wanted."

Bethany ends KCAC play in sixth place at 3-5-1, and are 7-10-1 overall. With their first conference tournament appearance in five years, the Swedes will either travel to Friends University or Ottawa University on Saturday, November 7.

"I am super excited about having an extra week of practice and at the prospect of getting to extend our season even longer on Saturday night," said Kidd. "I know we will be a handful for whoever we play."