Hunter Morse has been a goaltender for so long, the Western Michigan University men's soccer player can't remember playing any other position.

Why would someone decide at a young age to play arguably the most stressful position on a soccer team?

''Honestly, someone has to play it and they picked me so I stuck with it,'' the graduate student transfer from Michigan State said with a smile.

That someone will be a key cog on a Bronco team (16-2-2 overall) of many key cogs when they travel to the University of Portland (14-2-3) on Saturday (8 p.m. EST) in an NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen matchup. It will be just the second time WMU has played in a Sweet Sixteen match in the school's history.

The match will also feature two coaches with Midwest roots. WMU head coach Chad Wiseman is a former player for the Broncos while Portland head coach Nick Carlin-Voigt is a Comstock High School and Kalamazoo College graduate who played goaltender for K-College, earning an All-America accolade.

''Our approach when we were recruiting Hunter was we have a pretty experienced team and we need you to just come here and be you,'' Wiseman said. 

Morse was blunt when he told Wiseman what the goaltender wanted.

''One of the things I told him was I want to win a Mid-American Conference Championship and make a run in the NCAA Tournament,'' Morse said. ''And that's what we are doing so far.''

That run actually started in the MAC Tournament Championship game when the Broncos downed regular-season titlist Akron, 2-1, at Akron, which is a very tough place to play. While Western Michigan's stellar record might have given the Broncos an at-large bid into the NCAA, the win over the Zips gave the Broncos the league's automatic bid.

But still, Western Michigan was unseeded and had to go to Louisville for a first-round match, which they won 2-1. Then it was down to Nashville to play at No. 9 Lipscomb, which the Broncos defeated, 1-0. In both those games, Morse came up huge. He made eight saves at Louisville and another seven at Lipscomb.

When asked what game he thought was his best of the season, without hesitation he said Louisville, and Wiseman agreed.

''The scoring chances we gave up to Louisville were very good chances,'' Wiseman said. ''He had to come up with one double save and we managed to get a goal kick out of it.

''He had a couple of other ones which were next-level saves.''

Morse's goals-against average is a minuscule .45 goals per game, top in the nation.

''You can't put that all on me,'' Morse quickly says. ''We have a very good defensive unit back there and I'm very proud of them. I can't take all the credit.''

Seniors Daniel Nimick, Jaylen Shannon, Matt Lockwood, and sophomore Jonathan Robinson are the defensive back four who play in front of Morse. In fact, they were so good in the MAC Championship game, they only allowed Akron two shots on goal.

''One of the challenges early on in the season was to make sure there was a partnership back there with everybody, because Hunter, JR, and Matt were all new to the program,'' Wiseman said. ''Once we knew what that was going to look like, it was a situation of how comfortable you will be well with each other.

''Then the other challenge is to find out if the guys in the front (forwards and midfielders) want to defend as much as the guys in the back do.''

According to the national team stats, everyone helps out on defense. Western Michigan is first nationally in goals-against-average (.445 per game) and first in save percentage (.888). It is also second in goal differential (34, which is 43 goals scored minus nine goals allowed) and is second in win-loss-tie percentage (.850). 

Individually, Morse is first nationally in goals-against and save percentage, tied for second nationally in shutouts with 11, and tied for 29th with 69 saves.

In WMU history, the 143 points scored (two points for a goal, one point for an assist) blew away the former school record of 124 set in 1988. Also, the 43 goals tie the school record set in 1983. The 16 wins are one off-the-mark set in 2017.

The Broncos will be going against a Portland team that knows how to score goals. It has 50 goals in 19 games, good for fourth nationally.

''They have some game-changing players, they have a home atmosphere which is electric and they will be coming after our guys,'' Wiseman said. ''We have to keep doing what we do.''

Morse said that he doesn't really care whether he sees a shot at the beginning to get himself into the game.

''I'd rather not have to save anything in a game,'' he said with a laugh. ''Part of being a goalie is you have to be ready at any time.

''You might not see anything for 30 minutes, then suddenly there is a breakaway. That's life.''

His life, since he was very young, has been between the pipes. And Morse has been very good.