Lawrence Tech's Late Goal Hands Men's Soccer Heartbreaking Loss

(Southfield, MI)-- The Cleary Cougar men's soccer team was in the lead for more than two thirds of the game, but the Lawrence Tech Blue Devils scored two critical goals down the stretch to hand the Cougars a WHAC defeat.

Cleary didn't need too long to get on the scoreboard, as the Cougars struck in the 10th minute.  After Atario Brown drew a foul about 37 yards away from goal, Oscar Clarke delivered a perfect free kick to the back post, where Niels Koert had gotten behind the Blue Devil defense.  Koert could not put a header on target from the angle, however, and headed the ball back across the face of the goal, where the ball found a wide open Jack Heald, who headed it into the net for his fourth goal of the season.  Lawrence Tech would grow into the game, outshooting the Cougars 8-4 in the first half, but could not equalize, and Cleary led 1-0 at the break.

Still leading 1-0 in the 65th minute, Lawrence Tech would tie the game.  The Blue Devils found a pocket of space to advance the ball, and sent a through ball towards the end line before it was crossed to the other side of the field and volleyed on the first touch.  Though it wasn't hit perfectly clean, it was struck well enough to get bast the Cleary defense and into the net to make the score 1-1.  That score looked like it might end up being the final score, but the Blue Devils had some late magic still up their sleeves.  A dangerous in-swinging ball into the box put the Cougar defense in a precarious spot, and the ball ultimately found no one to redirect it or clear it, as it found it's way into the back of the net to give the Blue Devils a 2-1 lead with just under two minutes to play.  Cleary could not muster any more magic in the game, and LTU handed Cleary their second consecutive defeat.

Austin Freemire made 5 saves in the game on 7 shots faced as he suffered the loss in goal.  Cleary was outshot 16-6 i nthe game, with LTU also holding an 8-4 advantage on shots on target.  

The loss drops Cleary's record to 8-4 overall, 2-3 in the WHAC.  The Cougars will look to rebound on Wednesday, October 8, when they travel to WHAC powerhouse Madonna for a 3:00 PM kickoff.