In a Saturday afternoon matchup, the men’s soccer team suffered their first conference loss of the season as the Grace College Lancers defeated them 4-1.

The first half was evenly matched with both teams having nine shots on goal. At the 14-minute mark, the Lancers’ Steven Fiema, who had a hat trick in the matchup, scored the only goal of the half.

After halftime and thanks to an assist from Joel Musambi, Abdul Ibrahim scored Spring Arbor’s only goal just over an hour into play. At this point, the Cougars and Lancers were tied 1-1.

Just over a minute after Ibrahim’s goal, the Lancers would respond with a goal scored by Fiema. This goal would be the first of three unanswered goals, with both Grace’s Dylan Anderson and Fiema scoring in the last 15 minutes of the game.

Even though the Lancers outscored the Cougars, the men attempted to keep themselves in the game having a total of 19 shots on goal over the matchup to Grace’s 20.

The Cougars will return home for two games, one against Huntington University on Oct. 16, before ending the season at home against Indiana Wesleyan University on Oct. 19. Both games will be played at 7 p.m.

[WRITER’S NOTE: ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON WWW.SAUCOUGARS.COM]