FULTON, Mo.—The William Woods University men's soccer team lost their final regular season game 2-1 (2OT) in heart breaking fashion on Saturday afternoon, as they battled all afternoon against No. 8-ranked Missouri Valley College.
 
Prior to the game, the Owls honored its seven seniors, Sebastian Burich, Paulo Conelian, Jacob Hawes, Alan Matthew, Daniel Paez, Dillon Snyder and Luca Stroeter
 
The Owls (11-5-2; 6-3-1 AMC) were able to strike early in the third minute, as Jesse Jordan lifted a pass over the Vikings (14-3; 7-0 Heart of America Athletic Conference) defense and Sebastian Burich was able to tip the bouncing ball over Viking goaltender Christos Kontermiris, to give WWU a 1-0 lead.
 
Missouri Valley, however, answered right back, as after receiving the ball from a throw in by Marc Heaman, Rafael Alcaraz was able to fend off the Owls defense with his back, turn and fire the ball into the back of the net, tying the score up 1-1.
 
Both teams' had its fair share of chances the rest of the half, but neither could gather a lead, so at the end of 45:00 minutes of play, the game was tied 1-1.
 
After outshooting the Owls 11-7 in the first frame, the Vikings continued its offensive pressure throughout the final 45:00 minutes of play, as they held a shot advantage of 12-4 in the second half.
 
The Owls defense and goaltender Conor Cable came up big when they needed to, as they kept MVC from scoring the game winner and so it was off to overtime.
 
In the first OT, the quick pace of the game continued, but neither team was able to find an opportunity to score, so a second overtime was needed.
 
In the second overtime, Missouri Valley saw two of its scoring chances go wide, but they were able to make the third one count, as Raul Beneit scored the game winner from 18 yards out at the 108:37 mark, handing WWU a tough one goal loss on Senior Day.
 
Despite Missouri Valley outshooting William Woods 26-11 on the day, 19 of the Vikings shots were off target. Offensively, WWU was led by Burich and Harrison Bray, having three shots a piece, while in net, Cable came up with four saves.  
 
Missouri Valley, meanwhile, was led by Ivan Ninkov, totaling a game-high seven shots, while Alcaraz added five and Juan Carlos Heras contributed four. In goal, Kontemiris came up with four saves.
 
The Owls will now return to the pitch in the American Midwest Conference Quarterfinals, as the team is the No. 5 seed in the AMC Tournament and will travel to No. 4 seed Hannibal-LaGrange University on November 8^th. Kick-off will start at 1 p.m.
Fans make sure to stay updated on wwuowls.com all week for a full preview of Saturday's action.