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That's using your head! UMKC junior midfielder Garret Guthrie fights an Evansville foe for control of the ball in the Kangaroos' heart-wrenching loss.

Kangaroos lose in double overtime 1-0

By: David Cordill

Posted: 10/1/07

Some losses are simply harder to take than others; just ask the UMKC men's soccer team, who outplayed the University of Evansville for the better part of 106 minutes last Thursday afternoon.

The Kangaroos, 4-3-1, were felled in the second overtime period after the Purple Aces' Dan Gibson guided a 20-yard blast inside the near post for a sudden 1-0 victory at Bourke Field on the Rockhurst University campus.

The curving path of Gibson's shot was virtually unobstructed as several UMKC players seemed to let up on the play after an unidentified inadvertent whistle sounded near the vicinity of the pitch.

Given its unexpected trajectory, the ball was likely to have found the back of the net regardless of any on- or off-field discrepancies.

After the match, UMKC Head Coach Rick Benben, disappointed by the defeat, would not comment on the incident, but instead gave credit to both squads.

"You got to make plays," Benben said. "They made a play to win at the end. We certainly had plenty of opportunities to win the game throughout but couldn't capitalize and they did ... Overall, I think our play was pretty good. I think we're growing as a team."

Several near misses during regulation made the loss harder for the Roos to swallow.

With less than two minutes remaining in the first half, UMKC freshman defender Matt Kopsky saw daylight between Purple Aces goalkeeper Alec Dufty and the near post, but headed his effort wide of the mark.

UMKC junior forward Brian Harris had a tantalizing chance early in the second half, unleashing a rocket after an extended scamper through the middle portion of the field. Unfortunately for Harris and the Kangaroos, the ball sailed high and grazed off the top post in what was, perhaps, their best chance on the afternoon.

"I saw that the goalie was out a little bit, so I thought I'd hit a volley," Harris said. "I thought it was in. It just caught the underside of the bar and bounced out."

Clearly the aggressors during the first 45 minutes of the match, the Kangaroos kept pressure on Evansville; most of the action took place on the Purple Aces' end of the pitch as UMKC repeatedly won balls and controlled possession. Junior midfielder Garret Guthrie missed high on a crossing shot in the 31st minute for the Roos and sophomore forward Brian Perez sent a bouncing shot off the near post in the 39th minute.

Freshman Ken Cooper, making his second consecutive start at the net for UMKC, made an impressive sliding save with a little more than three minutes left in the half, preserving a scoreless stalemate as both teams headed for the break.

UMKC came out quickly in the second frame but seemed to lose a degree of spark as the game wore on. Evansville, 5-4-0, tried to respond but missed a clear opportunity when Jordan Beshears went wide on a strike during the 75th minute.

The Kangaroos had several more shots very late in regulation time and during the second extra period. Harris took a last ditch crossing shot that missed at the 94:40 mark. Then, moments before the Evansville game winner, UMKC freshman forward John Bayron Sosa dropped a corner kick in front of the Purple Aces goal, but a host of UMKC players were unable to connect with the ball.

"I'm really a performance coach, meaning, 'hey if we play well, good things will happen.' If we keep playing like we've been, we're going to win the games. There's nothing wrong with Evansville - they're a good team. We just couldnt quite get over the hump," Benben said after Thursday's bitter setback.

Harris put a positive spin on the loss as well.

"Looking at the performance by all of us, I think we played one our best games of the year," he said. "You can't really see it in the result that we got, but as a team we really looked after each other ... and really played well as one."

dcs34c@umkc.edu

Sunday late soccer score

UMKC 2, IPFW 1.

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