Unlike last season, the Tippecanoe men’s soccer team had to finish the regular season on the road, but just like last season, a win over Vandalia Butler sealed the outright conference championship. Tipp beat Butler 5-1 on Tuesday night to win the Miami Valley League for the 5th straight season.
Tipp (14-1-1) entered the match unbeaten in conference play, while Butler, at 7-1, needed a win to share the conference crown.
Tipp jumped out to an early lead with a Landon Haas goal in the 13th minute. They added a second shortly after from Caleb Ransom and a third on an own goal. Butler scored right before the half, but Tipp took a 3-1 lead into the break.
While Butler came out strong, controlling much of the play in the first few minutes of the second half, a great finish by Cameron Smith on a cross from Ransom put Tipp ahead 4-1. Smith added a final goal a few minutes later and Tipp cruised the rest of the way.
The five goals were the most Butler has surrendered in a game this season. In fact, the Aviators had allowed just 10 goals total all season entering the night.
The win was Tipp’s 45th consecutive conference victory since joining the MVL prior to the 2019 season. It was also the Red Devils’ 87th straight conference game without a loss, dating back to a 2014 defeat at the hands of Tecumseh when they were in the Central Buckeye Conference.
The conference title was the program’s 33rd in 42 years of existence, and 9th consecutive overall. Tipp holds an all-time record of 266-10-22 (92.7%) in conference play since the program started in 1982.
Tipp now turns its attention to Ohio state tournament play. The Red Devils have the 1-seed in the Southwest 1 sectional and host 12-seed Urbana (1-13-1) next Tuesday at 7pm. With a win, they would host 14-seed Greenville (0-14-0) the following Saturday.