Concord Falls Short Versus Bluefield College

Box Score BLUEFIELD, W.Va-  The Concord University men's soccer team fell 3-2 to Bluefield College on Wednesday evening at the East River Soccer Complex
 
Concord falls to 6-9 on the season, while Bluefield College improves to 8-6-2 this year. 
 
Junior midfielder Alex Rhodes looked to get the Mountain Lions on the scoresheet early as his effort forced a save from Bluefield goalkeeper Daren Hodges just six minutes into the game. 
 
The Rams however, took an early 2-0 advantage after notching goals in the 19^th and 28^th minute. 
 
CU responded just after the Rams second goal, as freshman defender Pedro Bassin had a shot hit the crossbar with 15 minutes left in the first half.  30 seconds after Bassin's effort, Sam Ashton fired a hard, knuckling shot from about 20 yards out off of his right boot that brought the Mountain Lions to within one goal.
 
The score would remain 2-1 heading into halftime. 
 
Just eight minutes into the second period, sophomore defender Xander Bailey fired a hard, low shot from about 22 yards out that was saved initially by Hodges. However, the rebound was followed by Bassin, who tapped home the miss for his third goal of the season and leveled the game at two apiece. 
 
The Rams grabbed a late goal to take a 3-2 advantage with just 10 minutes remaining. 
 
Concord looked to climb back into the game with a little under nine minutes left as Bassin forced a save from Hodges before hitting the crossbar on the follow-up shot. Concord had one more shot off of the foot of Ashton to try to tie the game, but the effort saved by Hodges to give the Rams a 3-2 victory. 
 
Overall, Concord had 16 shot attempts, with 10 of those attempts being on target. Bluefield College attempted 22 shots with nine of those on frame. 
 
Freshman goalkeeper James Sinclair made six saves in goal for the Mountain Lions.    
 
Ashton's goal was his seventh of the season, the most for a Concord player since Ryan Forde netted eight goals during the 2013 campaign. 
 
Concord returns to MEC action on Sunday when it travels to Charleston to face the Golden Eagles. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.