An early goal was all it took as second-seeded Urbana University moved past third-seeded Notre Dame, 1-0, on Thursday in the Mountain East Conference semifinals played at UU Stadium.

With its first program win in a MEC tournament game, UU (13-3-1) advances to the championship match scheduled for Sunday. The Blue Knights will play the winner of No. 1 Charleston and No. 4 West Virginia Wesleyan as the highest remaining seed will host the championship. UU would host Sunday’s final if Wesleyan upsets the Golden Eagles.

Senior midfielder Lewis Dunne scored the game-winner in Thursday’s semifinal in the third minute, as he struck a clean shot into the upper left 90 for his sixth goal of the year. It was also the first goal scored by a Blue Knight during any MEC tournament game. UU dropped last year’s decision 1-0 to Notre Dame and 2-0 to Charleston in 2013.

Notre Dame (10-5-2) put the pressure on UU with an advantage in shots (15-11), but senior goalkeeper and MEC Defensive Player of the Year Nathan Jones shut down the Falcons and MEC Offensive Player of the Year Leonardo Paiva. Jones recorded four saves to raise his nation-leading save percentage to .871, while UU became the first team to prevent Paiva from scoring in any game this season.

Raphael Northoff, Ray Roberts, Ebenezer Agyeman and Lars Blenckers paced UU with two shots each.

The Blue Knights also solidified their NCAA postseason chances with the triumph. UU was ranked third in this week’s edition of the Atlantic Region poll and will need to remain among the top four teams called during the NCAA Division II Men’s Soccer Selection Show scheduled for Monday night.

Blue Knights play at NDC

The UU football team will play at Notre Dame College on Saturday.

The Blue Knights are 3-6 overall while NDC is 7-2.

NDC has a couple of starters suspended after being involved in a post-game brawl with Fairmont State last week.