Siloam Springs, AR - Tigers lose conference opener in another one goal game. 
 
The Tigers would open up Sooner Athletic Conference play at John Brown University late Tuesday night. Last season they ended JBU season in the conference semifinal 3-2, scoring two goals in the dying moments. With this on their minds, Coach Hoxie knew that the start of the game was going to be sporty. 
 
"There's no secret as to how we are going to play now. We've earned some respect and now it's our responsibility to keep it. So, we set up to take the emotion out of the game, attempting to turn the game into a crawl. I thought it was glorious from my guys as the first shot wasn't until 25 minutes into the thing."
 
As stated the Tigers were content to let the Eagles have the ball in less critical areas.  The tactic definitely took the emotion out of the game making it a boring spectacle. However, JBU would be first to find the back of the net. After some sustained Tiger possession a clear foul on JBU resulted in the chance. Despite the obvious error from the referee, the Tigers still had two chances to make a play on the ball. But the forward was just too good and calmly finished after turning them inside out. 
 
Hoxie added, "Absolutely shocking start to the game for the official, who even admitted that there was a coming together of feet. He even could have flagged him for a 15 yard personal foul on a horse collar tackle. Despite that, we still had chances to make a stop but that kid did us dirty…absolutely rotten, and that's on us. Maybe I should have stood up and yelled hey ref."
 
It wasn't all one way traffic as the analytics would seem to indicate. The Tigers were very dangerous going forward in certain areas and in certain situations.  The best chance coming a few minutes after the goal, with Drew Schrader out working the CB forcing a nice kick save from the GK on the 1v1.
 
The second half started in great fashion for the Tigers. The halftime changes seemed to work as the Tigers were able to have some sustained possession and caught JBU with Arthur Pancoto behind. His first touch inside found Drew Schrader, this time he made no mistake from inside the box leveling the score. 
 
"Nice sequence of events here. What isn't mentioned is the entry pass from Hilario (Garcia). What a ball to find Arthur in behind."
 
As the rest of the half wore on, the tempo of the game was increasing and the game was getting stretched. This was looking to favor the Tigers surprisingly as they were starting to create half chances further and further up the field, forcing a few nice saves from the JBU GK. But as fate would have it, and as it's been all season long, fortune would not shine on the Tigers. With 18 left, the JBU forward would find space on a second ball off a corner, and hit the game winner. A frustrated Hoxie added:
 
"How did we leave the best player in the conference wide open inside the box with 15 minutes left? What did we think was going to happen? Still tough considering the phase of the game we were in. Give the guy credit though."
 
A quick tactic change worked for the Tigers. Having extra attackers meant more players forward. Schrader found the cross bar with the follow up header going over. A diving save from the GK who spilt the rebound, but the follow up shot went wide. A header saved off the line. All positives to take away for the Tigers, and they certainly did enough to at least get a point from the game. In the end, they would run out of time, dropping their 5th one goal decision of the season. Hoxie concluded,
 
"Fun game to be a part of. I am extremely happy with the work rate and effort of the boys tonight. They executed a game plan and we're almost rewarded for it. The difference tonight was always going to be what happens in both boxes."
 
The McPherson soccer community lost a member in tragic fashion yesterday. Jackson Schrader played with MKU for Coach Hoxie and was a close teammate and friend of Tyler Hoxie, Drew Schrader, and Sammy Jaime. Our prayers and support go out to his family and friends during this extremely difficult time. 
 
Next up for the Tigers is #4 Mid-America Christian University Saturday 4:30pm at CCCK.