MARS HILL, N.C. - Senior midfielder Hodaka Yonezawa scored in the 29th minute to tally the match's only goal, as Anderson University men's soccer ended its regular season on a high note with a 1-0 victory over Mars Hill in South Atlantic Conference action on Saturday at Belk Field.

With the win, the Trojans begin their postseason campaign with an 8-7-1 overall record and total the most conference victories since they went undefeated within the SAC in 2011 with a 7-4 league mark. The Lions (4-10-1, 3-7-1 SAC) saw their season come to close as they finished ninth in the final conference standings.

Yonezawa recorded two shots through the first 24 minutes of the match, as his third one gave the visitors their lone goal of the afternoon. Teammate Brad Du Plooy sent a through ball past the Mars Hill backline and found Yonezawa who knocked in his third goal of the year. For Du Plooy, the assist was his fifth of the season, which leads the team.

With Anderson taking the one-goal advantage into the second half, the Trojan backline anchored by Josh Calabria, Remi Lesterlou and Nick Bryant helped preserve the shutout. Redshirt junior goalkeeper Devon Ashy needed to make just one save for the final 45 minutes to increase his clean sheet total on the season to four. For the match, Ashy totaled four stops in his eighth victory.

Yonezawa led the team with four shots, while Du Plooy followed with a pair of shots. Calabria, Lesterlou, freshman Erik Dahlbeck and senior Andre Carle all posted a shot for the match, as Calabria and Carle placed a shot on frame.

With the victory, the Black and Gold earned the No. 5 seed in next week's SAC Championship and will head to fourth-seeded Queens for its opening-round match on Tuesday. Kick-off from the Queens Sports Complex is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.