COLUMBIA, Ky. – Men's soccer dropped a heartbreaking 1-0 double overtime loss against MSC Regular Season Champion and NAIA No. 3 Lindsey Wilson in the conference quarterfinals. The eighth-seeded Bears battled to a scoreless draw with the Blue Raiders for 102:14 before a strike from inside the 18 crushed the Bears upset bid with 7:46 to play before the match would have gone to a shootout.
Lindsey Wilson put the Bears under seemingly relentless pressure but time and time again the Bears defense held its ground. Despite taking a total of 26 shots in the contest, just eight of the shots ever got on goal. Senior Thomas Carbonari stopped a total of six shots in the game while the Bears also recorded a defensive save to help keep the game scoreless. However, a strike from reserve midfielder Bastien Montagnon off a pass from Lwandiso Gonya from just inside the top of the 18 turned growing optimism into a crushing loss.
In the opening half, the Blue Raiders had a 6-2 edge in shots while Carbonari came up with two saves during that time. In the 25th minute of play, Joe Lamont sent the Bears' first shot of the game wide of goal. The Bears defensive save came in the 38th minute of play following an LWC corner kick.
SSU's only shot on goal of the game came off the Bears' second corner kick chance of the evening. With Chris Wiget taking the corner that occurred with under 20 seconds remaining in the opening half, Tanner Hopwood put a shot on target but Lindsey Wilson's Yuta Nomura was in position to make the stop as the teams went to halftime scoreless after 45 minutes.
Lindsey Wilson took 14 shots in the second half while the Bears had two more shots. As he seemed to be so many times in his career, Carbonari was again in position to make five saves to preserve his half of the shutout. The Bears' two shots in the second half both were off target. In the 58th minute, Jacob Hackworth sent a shot wide of target just under 30 seconds after a restart following a foul. In the 68th minute, Mark Hergenrather sent a shot over the crossbar as the teams remained tied after 90 minutes.
All of the offense in the first 10 minute overtime belonged to Lindsey Wilson. Lindsey Wilson sent three shots wide of goal and another shot over the crossbar while also earning one corner try. After 100 minutes had passed and the game was still tied.
Just 48 seconds into the second overtime, Montagnon sent a shot wide of goal. However, when he found his target just a minute and a half later he would convert for the game-winning goal to put a quick and painful end to Shawnee State's upset bid and season. The win moves Lindsey Wilson onto the MSC semifinals next weekend.
Men's soccer ends it season with an overall record of 7-10-1.
