ATHENS, W.Va. – The No. 3 seeded Davis & Elkins College men's soccer team fell in a thrilling Mountain East Conference Semifinals matchup to No. 2 Concord University, 6-4, in what became the highest-scoring game in MEC tournament history and an instant classic on Wednesday at Callaghan Stadium.
The match saw an intense start as Concord jumped out to an early 2-0 lead, but was halted for more than 30 minutes just 18 minutes in due to an injury to a D&E player on a hard slide tackle, which heightened the tension on the field and led to a Mountain Lion yellow card. When play resumed, Concord scored again in the 26th minute to take a seemingly commanding 3-0 lead.
Ever resilient, the Senators' offense responded five minutes later when senior Johan Magaña opened the scoring for D&E in the 31st minute, netting a powerful shot to cut into Concord's lead off an assist from Franciso Lopez-Kriek.
Early in the second half with the Senators trailing 3-1, Concord once again came out with intensity, scoring again in the 46th minute, then finding the net for another score just six minutes later.
Not to be deterred, the 5-1 deficit seemed to bring a surge of energy to the Senators, with Hugo Fauli finding the corner of the net in the 63rd minute with an assist from Modou Faye to make it 5-2. Then, D&E ignited the crowd in the 75th minute with back-to-back goals just 20 seconds apart. Magaña struck first, scoring his second goal of the match and MEC-leading 16th goal of the season off a penalty kick. Seconds later, senior Modou Faye capitalized on a defensive breakdown and an assist from Magaña, scoring his first goal of the night and giving D&E a brief lifeline as they looked to gain control at 5-4.
However, Concord quickly regained momentum, adding one final late goal to ultimately seal the victory and advance to the MEC championship game against No. 2 in the nation, the University of Charleston.
With a season record of 10-6-3 (7-5-2 MEC), D&E now hopes for an at-large bid to the NCAA Division II tournament to extend their season.
