SPRINGFIELD – The Missouri State men’s soccer team (9-8-3) dropped a 1-0 heartbreaker to the SIU Edwardsville Cougars (10-4-5) in the 2016 Missouri Valley Conference Men’s Soccer Championship title match on Sunday (Nov. 13) at Allison South Stadium.
In the fifth minute of the match, MSU’s Emmerich Hoegg took the first of three opening-half shots at SIUE goalkeeper, Kyle Dal Santo. From the far side of the pitch, Hoegg bombed the ball in an attempt to sneak it past the keeper, but Dal Santo sprawled out to make the save.
Jake Buckle and Mitch Langton would take the final two shots of the first half for the Bears in the next six minutes following Hoegg’s shot.
SIUE’s first and only shot of the match would come in the 36th minute, as Devyn Jambga beat an MSU defender and squeezed the ball past MSU goalkeeper Liam Priestley to give the second-seeded Cougars a one-goal lead going into the locker room.
The Bears came out in the second half with hopes of rallying for the third-straight match this postseason. MSU’s closest second-half look came in the 56th minute, as the Bears set up for a corner kick. Buckle sent the ball into the middle of the box, as Robbie Oslica leapt over his defender, heading the ball to the far side post. But Dal Santo lunged to the opposite side and a Cougar defender jumped on the line to make the team save and keep the Bears off the board.
MSU played a man-down for the final 13 minutes of the match due to a red card. Mikey Lightbourne would take the final shot for the Bears in the 81st minute, but sent the ball just wide of the goal.
Buckle, Hoegg and Oslica represented the Bears on the 2016 MVC Championship All-Tournament Team. Missouri State finished the 2016 season with an overall record of 9-8-3 and posted a top-five league finish for the fourth time in five seasons.
