Kirksville, Mo. – The SBU Men's Soccer team opened conference play today as they took on the Truman State Bulldogs. Bearcats fell in the final 3-5, moving to 0-4-1 (0-1, GLVC) on the season.
 
"We played a great second half regarding effort and desire, however, it's a 90 minute game and being good for only 45 minutes is never enough." Head Coach Sabelo Hlongwane said, "The score line has a lot of goals on both sides but we need to learn to limit mistakes and limit goals against us."
 
The Bearcats struck first with Sophomore Xavier O'Garro scoring in the first five minutes of the game, giving him his first career goal. Four unanswered goals by the Bulldogs had SBU trailing 1-4 with 35 minutes remaining in the game. Freshman Ignacio (Nacho) Masalli scored his first career goal and 18 minutes later Junior CJ Lacy matched his goal bringing the Bearcats to within 1 with 19 minutes left. The Bulldogs scored an insurance goal in the 85^th minute to stop the Bearcats from completing the comeback.
 
"A steppingstone to improving and we will learn from this and grow." Hlongwane said, "Now we look to prepare for Friday's home game."
 
The men's soccer team will return home on Friday September 16^th as they take on the Rockhurst Hawks. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 PM.