Men's Soccer Falls 1-0 to Truett in First-Ever Playoff Game

CLEVELAND, Ga. - The 6th seeded Columbia College men's soccer team lost a heartbreaking 1-0 match to #3 seed Truett McConnell University in the Appalachian Athletic Conference Quarterfinal Round from Georgia Friday evening.

A closely played first half saw the Bears score the only official goal of the match in the 41st minute to go into the break up 1-0. Their goal came soon after Columbia's opening goal was waived off by referees midway thorugh the half due to a foul by the Koalas on the supposed goal. Therefore, Columbia went into the half trailing 1-0 and 8-5 in the shot count.

In the second half a combined 26 shots were attempted with TMU outshooting the Koalas 16-10. However, no goals were to come for either side in the half as TMU hung on for the win. Early in the second half, Columbia earned a penalty kick in the 52nd minute due to a TMU handball, but Matthias Dennis had his PK saved by the TMU keeper to preserve the lead. Despite a late push from the Koalas, TMU was able to pull out the victory.

Senior goalkeeper Nathan Huff had a terrific game making 7 saves on 8 shots on goal while forward Natneal Micheal led with four attempted shots while freshman forward Matthias Dennis recorded three shots and two on goal. Sophomore MF Noah Poungthana also attempted two shots.

The playoff game was the first-ever for the Koala men's soccer program while they finished the season with a record of 6-7-4 overall and 4-4-4 in the conference under second-year coach Logan Koon.

TMU improved to 10-4-2 and will next face #2 seed Milligan in the conference semifinals.