ATHENS, W.Va. – The Concord University men's soccer team fell in heartbreaking fashion to the third-ranked Charleston Golden Eagles, 2-1, Sunday afternoon in a Mountain East Conference game at Callaghan Stadium.
 
No. 18 Concord (12-3-2, 10-2 MEC) played an even match with No. 3 Charleston (14-2, 11-1 MEC), but it was the Golden Eagles who scored a late goal to lock up the MEC South Division regular-season title.
 
The first major moment belonged to Charleston, scoring on a free kick in the 24th minute.
 
Concord didn't wait long to respond. On a corner kick, junior forward Lucas Costa smashed in a ball into the roof of the net to equalize in the 30th minute. Assists were provided by senior midfielder Ezekial Oswald and junior defender Neko Worthy as they set up Costa well.
 
The game started to open up towards the end of the first half where sophomore forward Louis Learoyd had an unbelievable bicycle kick effort cleared off the line in the 41^st minute.
 
At the break, both teams were knotted at 1-1 with only four total shots through 45 minutes.
 
The second half started much like the first with very minimal action.
 
In the 77th minute, UC broke through on a highly-controversial play. While it appeared that junior goalkeeper Iori Tanaka made an absurd double save right near the goal line, the ball crossed the line and gave the Golden Eagles a goal advantage.
 
Despite Concord's best efforts, including two good chances from senior midfielder Keeyan Thomas, the Mountain Lions couldn't find a late equalizer. Thomas had both of CU's shots in the second half.
 
In a game that was pre-dominantly played in the midfield, each team only had four shots in the contest.  
 
Concord ends its regular season on the road at Shawnee State Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.