PORTALES, N.M. – No. 1 Midwestern State clinched its third-straight Southwest Soccer Conference championship Friday after clinching a 3-0 win over Eastern New Mexico at the ENMU Soccer Field.

"The guys were pretty excited and were just cheering hard the last five minutes," MSU coach Doug Elder said. "We're very happy to win conference and very excited that we don't have to share it this time."

MSU also extended its winning streak to school-record 15 matches to improve to 17-1 on the season and remained perfect in SSC play at 7-0.

Last season, the Mustangs shared the conference championship with West Texas A&M after the Buffaloes claimed a 1-0 win in the season finale in Wichita Falls.

Midwestern closes the season against the Buffs Sunday afternoon at 2:30 p.m. at The Pitch in Canyon, Texas with the league firmly in hand.

But it didn't come easy against Eastern New Mexico.

"They played really hard and we got a little frustrated," Elder said. "They packed it in defensively and tried to counterattack. It's hard to attack 10 defensive players."

The Mustangs took control of the match with pair of goals in the first half as senior midfielder Ahmad Ihmeidan scored his sixth goal of the season after putting a one-timer in the net off of a Craig Sutherland serve from the right wing in the 27th minute.

The Mustangs converted a corner kick in the 41st minute as the Greyhounds were unable to clear a shot from the box, allowing junior forward Nick Auditore to gather the loose ball and blast a shot that squirted through the arms of Eastern New Mexico goalkeeper Peter Horak to give MSU a 2-0 advantage going into intermission.

Freshman Craig Sutherland leaped high to head in his 16th goal of the season on a serve from Kyle Kmiec in the 58th minute to close out the scoring.

The Mustangs allowed just six shots and three on goal to post their 11th shutout of the season. MSU has notched seven shutouts in its last eight matches.

Eastern New Mexico closes the season at 6-10-2 overall and 3-5-1 in the SSC.