PEORIA, Ill. - With a spot in the 2010 State Farm Missouri Valley Conference championship game on the line, the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville men's soccer team raced out to a 2-0 lead in the first half and held on for a 2-1 victory over Missouri State Friday afternoon.

"It was a good game and very entertaining," said SIUE Head Coach Kevin Kalish. "I thought our guys had a fantastic first half and did enough to hold on in the second."

Jordan Barnes got the No. 2 seed Cougars on the scoreboard early with his third tally of the season redirecting a pass from Benny Jeffery past goalkeeper Alex Riggs of the Bears at 18:11 of the opening stanza.

SIUE was not done scoring on the recently named MVC Goalkeeper of the Year from the No. 3 seed Missouri State, as Jose Tamayo picked a perfect time to score his first goal of the season.

Tamayo tracked the ball to the back post following a header from Mike Jones and beat Riggs to the far post with a shot in the 31st minute.

"We possessed the ball well and Jordan's goal was very good, said Kalish. "Then for Jose to come in and give us that second goal was huge."

With a two-goal lead late in the first half, the Cougars gave up a penalty kick to the Bears' Gerard Barbero. Junior goalkeeper Nick Collico rose to the occasion diving to make a spectacular save.

"Nick has been phenomenal," said Kalish about his goalkeeper. "To save a penalty kick ten minutes before the end of the first half changed the momentum."

Collico finished the match with five saves while his counterpart Riggs made six.

Late in the second half Missouri State would make things interesting as Chad Johnson came off the bench and beat Collico with a shot off a rebound in the 78th minute.

SIUE would stand firm on a flurry of activity down the stretch as the Bears pressured relentlessly to hang on for the 2-1 victory.

The win secured the Cougars' place in Sunday's championship game at Shea Stadium on the campus of Bradley University. Kick-off is scheduled for 1:06 p.m. and will be broadcast live on Fox Sports Midwest.

SIUE will face the winner of the second semifinal match between the No. 5 seed and host Bradley and the regular season MVC champion and No. 1 seed Creighton. "Now we have to get our legs back and giving it a shot on Sunday," added Kalish.

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