Mountain Lions drop heartbreaker

SALT LAKE CITY â€" After battling back from a two-goal deficit, the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs soccer team finally succumbed to the California State-Monterey Bay Otters 3-2 Sunday.

Early in the first half the Otters scored two goals off long balls that were able to get past the UCCS defense.

Despite controlling the flow of play for most of the first half the Mountain Lions had trouble putting the finishing touches together in the final third of the field. Part of the trouble came from the choppy style of play put on the field by Cal State-Monterey Bay. For their efforts the Otters were reduced to 10 men when a UCCS forward was blindsided on a strong challenge in the 25th minute. Even though they were a man up, the Mountain Lions were unable to convert their offense into a goal in the first half.

In an apparent replay of Saturdayâ€^TMs game, the Mountain Lions were poised to take advantage of an opponent which was content to sit behind the ball and play defense for the second half. The Mountain Lions kept the ball under their control for almost the second half, interrupted only when the Otters would simply play it back to the Mountain Lionâ€^TMs defense.

The Mountain Lions were able to get their first goal off a penalty kick when Brain Best was brought down in the box after receiving a nice give and go from Jeff Halligan. Eric Foulk converted the kick and the Mountain Lions were down only one goal.

The Mountain Lions tied the score when Matt Atkins was able to elude the Otterâ€^TMs defense and fire a grass blazer to the far post.

With the game tied, the Mountain Lions nearly took the lead when Jeff Moore played a through ball to a dashing Marcus Reynolds who put the ball just wide of the net.

The Mountain Lions continued to press, but Cal State-Monterey Bay caught a lucky break when the center official awarded a foul just outside the box in the final five minutes of play. With a rocket of a shot to the far post, the Otters were able to go ahead of a stunned Mountain Lionâ€^TMs Team.

The Loss dropped UCCS to 1-2 on the season, and Cal State-Monterey Bay won the Westminster soccer tournament with a record of 3-0.