Phoenix, AZ- On Saturday, Arizona Christian went toe-to-toe with the number 12 Vanguard for almost 90 minutes until a last second goal saw ACU fall 1-0.  But once results from other matches came in the Firestorm found out they were headed to the GSAC playoffs.

After the Lions (14-2, 9-0 GSAC) took the first two shots, the Firestorm (8-8-1, 3-5-1 GSAC) got what seemed like a game changing break when a Vanguard player received a red card just 10 minutes into the contest.  Senior Roberto Valenzuela sent the ensuing free kick high.

About a minute later, Freshman Miguel Vasquez forced the first save of the afternoon.

The Firestorm missed a golden opportunity in the 39th minute when Senior Daniel Chavez hit the post, Junior Anthony Archuleta saw his follow up shot blocked, and Valenzuela sent a shot wide right.

Halftime saw ACU holding a slight 7-6 edge in shots.

Shooting in the second half resulted in the same number of shots (13) but Vanguard held the 8-5 advantage.

With 24 minutes remaining in the contest, ACU was given a red card of their own to even the teams at ten per side on the field.

In the last ten minutes of the match, VU took the last four shots.  The last was one was the one that hurt.  With the final ten second countdown of regulation being announced, a cross was knocked down by an ACU defender but left for Martin Arrieta to knock the ball into the back of the net.  When the clock was stopped after the goal the scoreboard read just two seconds left.

While the loss was unbelievable, Arizona Christian could still get excited when they learned that The Master's had defeated William Jessup 2-0.  The WJU loss punched the ticket for ACU to advance to their first ever GSAC playoffs.  Arizona Christian is currently tied with Menlo for the fifth spot and neither team can move up.  Depending on if they wind up as they fifth seed or sixth seed, Arizona Christian will travel to either the third or fourth seed in two weeks.

Next Saturday, the Firestorm will host San Diego Christian in the regular season finale with a 1:30 pm start time.  The five ACU seniors will be honored on Saturday.