Bellevue falls in Top 10 showdown to close out regular season

BARTLESVILLE, Okla. -- A late insurance strike thwarted a Bruin comeback effort and the No. 7-ranked Bellevue University men's soccer team fell at No. 2-ranked Oklahoma Wesleyan University 3-1 on Tuesday evening in an NAIA Top 10 match-up.

With the loss, Bellevue slides to 13-2-2 while Oklahoma Wesleyan improves to 16-1-0 with their 15^th-straight victory.

The Bruins registered the first shot of the game with Fletcher Hedge sending a shot in on goal that Marko Rodic made a save on just 36 seconds into the game.

Kirill Pakhomov staked OKWU to a 1-0 lead in the game's 12^th minute with his seventh goal of the year off a pass from Namanja Vukovic.

Julian Tovar added a second goal for the Eagles in the final minute of the first half, striking for his sixth tally of the year from Uros Rosic as took a 2-0 lead into halftime.

Taariq Ganga totaled a pair of saves for BU in the opening 45 minutes as the Bruins were outshot 7-1 and 4-1 on goal in the first half. Additionally, OKWU registered all five corners.

Ombeni Mubake halved the Oklahoma Wesleyan advantage with his fifth strike in the game's 74^th minute.

A 77^th minute red card to Carter Ligi saw Bellevue gain a man advantage over the final 13 minutes in their effort to salvage a late draw.

Ganga came up with an 80^th minute save, his fifth of the match, on an effort from Joao Neves to keep Bellevue within a goal but that would only delay the Eagles' in finding an insurance strike.

Tovar bagged his second goal of the match in the 82^nd minute with the assist going to Pakhomov and OKWU held defensively from there en route to the victory as the Bruins managed just one additional shot.

The Bruins begin postseason play in the Continental Athletic Conference Tournament (Nov. 9-13) where they are likely to be the No. 1 seed and open play on Monday, Nov. 11 in a semifinal match from the Grizzly Soccer Complex on the campus of Georgia Gwinnett College in Lawrenceville, Ga.