The Misericordia University men's soccer season came to an end with a tough 2-1 loss at Stevens in the first round of the MAC Freedom tournament, Tuesday.
Elijah Uray scored the lone goal for the Cougars.
Misericordia's first scoring opportunity came at 7:42 when
Anthony Numssen dribbled to the end line and rolled a pass through the box where
Caelan Stangil's one-timer from six yards out was denied on a diving save by a diving save from the Ducks goalkeeper.
Stevens took a 1-0 lead at 17:18 and doubled its lead 10 minutes later.
Misericordia's final of chance of the first half came off a re-start at 41:18 when
Gunnar Walden's went just over the net.
The Cougars threatened midway through the second half with three straight penalty corners, but Stangil's shot skimmed off the top crossbar at 62:57.
At 73:07, the Cougars played a ball over the top from the left flank and Stangil flicked it on from six yards out, but the Ducks keeper made a diving play to deflect the ball wide of the right post.
On the ensuing corner, the ball was pinballed around the box before
Spencer Pisani fired a shot from the top of the box that caromed off a Stevens defender and was headed home by Uray
That gave the Cougars a corner kick, where they capitalized. At 73:45,
Shane Macko's shot was blocked. Uray headed the deflection directly into the net to bring the Cougars back into the game with the score being 2-1.
The Cougars continued to ramp up the pressure on offense as they looked for the tying goal.
Pisani's shot was blocked in the 77
th minute and
Noah Romig took a diagonal pass in stride down the right side and cut into the box where he his strike from 12 yards out was deflected wide right.
Dominick Paniconi's header in the 87
th minute was tipped away by the Ducks keeper.
The Cougars had one last flurry with three corners in the final minute.
Uray's header was headed off the line by a Stevens defender to preserve the 2-1 margin.
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