FULTON, Mo. - For the first time in the program's 27-year history, (RV)/No. 1 seed Wililam Woods University (11-3-6, 6-0-2 American Midwest Conference) hosted rival No. 23/No. 4 seed Columbia College (12-3-4, 5-1-2) in the AMC Tournament. With a primetime Saturday kickoff and rainy and chilly temperatures akin to England, where the sport was first played, the Owls lost 1-0 in a hard-fought AMC semifinal defeat at North Campus Athletic Complex.
It was a physical battle from start to finish, with each team receiving three yellow cards and tallying 11 shots - five on goal for WWU and seven on goal for CC.
"Obviously disappointed as we played well to win," William Woods men's soccer coach
Tommy Nienhaus said. "We created several good chances including a one versus one with the goalkeeper that we didn't capitalize on."
Unlike Woods' 0-0 draw at the Cougars 24 days ago, both goalkeepers were active, but only one was for the entire match. The shot-stopper busy all night was the Owls'
Matthew Dworak, who made six saves, four in the first half and two in the second half, while CC's Alejandro Munoz recorded all five of his saves in the first half.
Even though Munoz didn't have to make a save in the second half, William Woods still matched Columbia with four shots. But three of the Cougars' shots were on goal, and none of the Owls' were.
With just 3:53 left in the contest, Columbia became the first AMC opponent to score against WWU this season - 10 AMC matches this year - with defender Fabricio Roberti finding the back of the net. Midfielder Marcos Mateos assisted on Roberti's goal.
The Owls didn't give up, doing everything they could to work toward getting a goal as the much larger and more vocal contingent of WWU supporters cheered them on. However, the Cougars prevented them from scoring and advanced to their third straight AMC Tournament final, looking to win their third straight.
"Tip of the cap to CC; they scored the only one they needed," Nienhaus said.
While they may be fierce foes, WWU has a better shot on paper to make the NAIA National Tournament with an at-large bid if nationally-ranked Columbia beats unranked, No. 2 seed Missouri Baptist University in the AMC championship Tuesday in Creve Couer.
The 66th Annual NAIA Men's Soccer National Championship's selection show is at 2 p.m. next Saturday.
