ANN ARBOR, Mich. – The Missouri Baptist University men's lacrosse team put up a valiant effort on Tuesday afternoon, but came up short in a 6-5 loss on the road at Concordia University-Ann Arbor. Receiving votes in the newest NAIA Coaches' Top 10 Poll, CUAA was the last to score in a game that went down to the wire and with the win, remained undefeated at 2-0.
 
Despite scoring first for the fourth time in five games, Missouri Baptist fell to the Cardinals and dropped to 2-3 overall.
 
Freshman Ian Olenski scored his fourth goal of the year to give MBU the 1-0 lead. From the top of the box, Olenski maneuvered his way around one defender and ripped it past Concordia goalie Austin Kelly before an oncoming defender could get to him.
 
The tide then turned in favor of the Cardinals. It wasn't as if the Spartans weren't trying. Offensively, MBU registered 19 shots with five on target, but didn't find the back of the net until the 4-minute mark in the second period. In between MBU goals, Concordia-Ann Arbor scored four unanswered with three coming from the same culprit – attackman Devin Wolever.
 
Looking to silence the crowd and stop the Cardinal momentum, Missouri Baptist turned to leading scorer Josh Zion on a man-up opportunity. Andy Coulter found Zion eagerly awaiting his pass, and from just inside the 25, Zion bounced one past the keeper to cut the CUAA lead to 4-2 before halftime.
 
After the break, the Spartans and Cardinals tightened up on defense and neither team scored for a 12-minute stretch. While there were no goals during that timeframe, there was plenty of action including five penalties between the two teams. Naturally, things began to get chippy. Following an illegal body check by Concordia, Missouri Baptist scored its second extra-man goal of the game with a goal by Sean Hess, assisted by Andy Coulter.
 
Trailing the Cardinals by just one, CUAA won the ensuing faceoff, just their second of the game, and called a timeout. The Cardinals drew up the perfect play scoring out of the timeout to once again widen the lead by two.
 
As the window of opportunity was shrinking by the minute, Missouri Baptist wasn't fazed. Much like the second half when a goal was needed, the Spartans put the ball in Josh Zion's stick. The senior navigated his way through traffic and scored his second of the game and recorded his fourth multi-goal performance in five games.
 
Two minutes later, the Spartans scored the equalizer as Trevor Park delivered a diving shot around the goalie to even the game at 5-5.
 
The tie was short-lived and Missouri Baptist's sudden momentum was stopped dead in its tracks. The home team was awarded possession after a faceoff won by Spartan faceoff specialist Noah Campbell and after a few passes, settled on a shot from Brendan Beerer. The gamewinning goal, which sailed past Hunter Filla, was enough to hold off the Spartans.
 
Noah Campbell had another superb outing at centerfield for the Spartans. The sophomore from Cincinnati, Ohio won 11 out of 13 faceoffs and notched 6 ground balls along the way. Just behind Campbell was fellow sophomore Fisher Nuss with 5 ground balls to go along with 1 caused turnover.
 
Missouri Baptist has another tough test in front of them as they wrap up their Spring Break trip Michigan at No. 6-ranked Siena Heights on Thursday at 7 p.m. (ET).