The host Christian Life soccer team defeated St. Joseph 2-0 on Wednesday to cap a regular-season sweep of its Midwest Classic Conference South Division rival.

The Eagles also won 2-0 over the Lancers on August 31 at Anderson Soccer Field.

Christian Life (16-6-1, 4-3 MCC) took a 1-0 lead in the 12th minute. Jared Ventura launched a free kick from the left wing to Philippe Duplessy, who then passed to Dan Rozema, who tapped a kick into the goal with St. Joseph goalie Chris McKeon (five saves) charging at him.

The Eagles made it 2-0 in the 45th minute when Nick Svehla added to his school single-season record with his 26th goal by rifling a shot from the center of the field that hit the top crossbar and went into the net. Lucas Johnson and Sean Taylor assisted on the play.

Svehla also scored one goal in the Eagles’ previous victory over the Lancers, but credited his team’s defense for making another win possible.

“They’ve been holding the ball, keeping it out of the other end real well, especially winning 50-50 balls off of goal kicks,” Svehla said. “That keeps our possession high.”

Christian Life outshot St. Joseph 13-8, but the Lancers had several good scoring opportunities.

John Domkowski’s shot from close range sailed over the top of the goal late in the first half, and he had another shot from point-blank range saved by Christian Life goalie Jacob Rozema (four saves) early in the second half.

St. Joseph’s Jared Becraft also missed a close-range shot wide left in the 69th minute.

“We’ve had a number of chances every game this season, but we never find the net and score goals,” St. Joseph coach Peter Iliev said.

The teams will meet again 4:30 p.m. Tuesday at Christian Life when the No. 4 seed Eagles host the No. 5 seed Lancers in a WIAA Division-3 regional semifinal.

Svehla said playing a team three times in one season isn’t easy.

“It definitely has its disadvantages because then you know what the other teams are looking for in your team,” he said. “But coming off two wins against them, you have the advantage because you have that momentum going into the third game.”

Plus, the Eagles will enter the contest having never trailed the Lancers this season.

“(Playing with) the lead has its advantages and disadvantages. Sometimes you get the lead and then you kind of fall back and you play a little easier and you don’t play hard,” Svehla said.

“But normally, we come out when we score and we keep that momentum and we keep going and we don’t back down.”

Iliev called Christian Life “the better team” and one that “deserved to win” on Wednesday, but he promised that the Lancers (6-14-2, 1-4-2 MCC) haven’t conceded a third defeat to the Eagles.

“We can make a couple switches inside and we’ll try again,” he said. “Yeah, we can play with them.”