Ozark Too Much for Eagles

In the second round of the conference tournament Faith met the #1 seed Ozark Christian. Ozark had received a bye in the first round earned by their number one seed, while Faith came into the game looking to advance on the heels of a tough battle with Emmaus the day before.

Faith began the game with good energy and created a great opportunity in the early minutes when Caleb Schumacher took the ball all the way into the Ozark box and played a ball across to Josh Bray who placed a great shot on frame and the all conference goalie Lauro Soto made a great save to turn away the opportunity. Faith would unfortunately suffer another tough injury loss in the early minutes as well when Jackson Clark suffered a strained hamstring that would sideline him for the rest of the game. Ozark would capitalize in the early minutes when a Faith defender slipped in the box and Andre Souza was left with an open shot that he placed into the net for the early 1-0 advantage. Ozark added to it in the 25th minute when Nick Cannon pulled a move to create the space for a shot that increased the lead to 2-0.

Faith looking to rebound in the second half and fight back into it suffered a tough set back early when Ozark forward Skylar Davis scored to make it 3-0. Faith did continue to fight and minutes later earned a free kick which Joseph Frerichs took advantage of with a great, quick shot to cut the lead to 3-1.  Ozark responded in the 67th minute to push the lead back to 3 goals when Seth Robinson scored on a long, laser shot from the right wing, well outside the box. That proved to be the final goal of the game and Ozark advanced to the championship game on the 4-1 victory. Faith will face off against Barclay College at noon on Saturday and play for 3rd place in the conference tournament.

"A tough game for our guys, facing adversity, battling continued injuries and fatigue. It was a rough start but the guys hung in there to keep battling."