Springfield Standard

Missouri State University's men's soccer team lost 2-1 to Florida Atlantic University (FAU) in a close match on Friday night. The game, held in Springfield, saw the Bears concede a late goal to FAU, who currently lead the American Conference.

The match began evenly, with both teams creating opportunities. FAU scored first in the 34th minute with a shot from outside the box. Missouri State responded just over ten minutes later when sophomores Fionn Mooney and Daniel Souza assisted senior Diego Real for a header that tied the game at 1-1.

In the second half, both teams continued to compete for an advantage. The decisive moment came in the 74th minute when FAU's Mamadou Diarra scored from outside the box to secure the win for his team.

Missouri State attempted seven shots during the match, three of which were on target. In comparison, FAU had ten shots with six on goal. The Bears also recorded five corner kicks against three for FAU.

After the match, MSU captain Alex Matthews said: "I thought in spells the boys definitely showed a bounce back from the last game, there are definitely positives that we can take into future games. We must keep our heads up, there's plenty of plenty of games to go and we have to start picking up points fast but I'm confident in this group, there is resilience and quality in it. If will keep doing the right things in training and executing in matches we should we should start to see some better results in the future but we're going to keep working hard as it's a big month ahead."

Bears head coach Michael Seabolt added: "I thought we did a lot of really good things and then we got away from them. We just have to stay on course. But we're going to hold our heads up and we got to get after it for the next game at Creighton."

Missouri State's next game will be against Creighton at a neutral site in Kansas City, Missouri on Wednesday, October 8 at 6:00 p.m.