ST. LOUIS— In a rematch of the 2018 AMC Championship game, Missouri Baptist Men's Soccer let a late second half lead slip away and ultimately fell 3-2 to Lyon College (Ark.) on Saturday afternoon at Maryville Field.
The Spartans drew first blood a little over 10 minutes into the first half.
Mattia Giangrande sent a free kick to the far post.
Richie Taylor headed it back towards goal and
Louie Perez swooped in to touch it home off the goal line. It was the sixth of the year for the freshman from Pattonville HS.
From that point forward though, Lyon controlled possession and suffocated the Spartan attack. MBU would hold onto the 1-0 advantage into halftime before finally conceding the tying goal in the 51
st minute. The Scots' Carlos Victor went down in the penalty area after a challenge from
Richie Taylor. Vitor Fujiwara converted from the PK spot to bring the match back to square one.
Lyon continued to threaten and control the play as the clock ticked down to the final 20 minutes. In a surprising turn of events though, it was the Spartans who grabbed the lead against the run of play. Off a broken play, Giangrande chased down a loose ball in Scots' territory along the sideline. The graduate senior spotted
Jona Oesterling making a run in the box and delivered a perfect cross. Oesterling slotted home for his third of the season to give the home side a 2-1 lead with 12 minutes to go.
It appeared the Spartans might be able to steal all three points but almost before anyone could blink, the Scots responded with another equalizer. This time it was Leo Galdino who beat
Davide Bucarelli one minute and 19 seconds after Oesterling's goal.
Lyon wasn't done scoring either. In the 86
th minute, Rafael Santos got a head on a corner kick and redirected into the top corner. Trailing for the first time all day, the Spartans could not mount a late comeback and saw their season record fall to 8-3-2 (3-2-1 AMC). Lyon moved to 9-4-1 (5-1-1 AMC).
The final shot count was 7-3 in favor of the Scots. Bucarelli made four saves for MBU. 28 fouls and six yellow cards were handed out in what was a chippy match from the opening kickoff.
The Spartans return to action on Tuesday at Hannibal-LaGrange (8-3-1, 4-0-1 AMC). Kickoff is scheduled for 1 pm.
