MILLIGAN COLLEGE, Tenn. (Oct. 24, 2015) â€" Despite a torrid offensive pace in the second half that saw the Buffaloes outshoot the Lions 15-7, the Milligan College men's soccer team could not complete their comeback effort, and fell to the first-place team in the Appalachian Athletic Conference, Bryan College, 2-1 in front of an energetic homecoming crowd on a rainy Saturday evening at Anglin Field.

Seniors Jonathan Colson and Tapiwa Kaseke led the Milligan offensive attack with five and four shots respectively, with all but one for each player coming on goal. Kaseke netted the lone goal for the Buffs late in the second half to cut a two-goal deficit in half.

Additionally, Ryan Reilly finished with four shots, two on goal, Zana Ali had three shots, Thomas Suits had two, both on goal, and Andrew Grimes had two.

Milligan, who began the night looking for its third straight win at home, dropped to 4-11-1 overall and 3-4-1 in the AAC with the loss. Bryan's record rose to 10-4-2 and 7-0-1 with its fourth straight win after taking down the No. 10 team in the country, Union College, its last time out. Additionally, the win for the Lions snapped the four-match regular-season winning streak the Buffs had going against Bryan.

Although Milligan was outshot 13-6 in the first half, forcing the Buffs' defense to make a number of defensive holds, the Buffs had a few good opportunities to get on the board early and make a statement.

Colson missed Milligan's first shot of the game wide and had another that was saved by the Bryan keeper, Alex Horton. At the 37:40 mark, Colson sent a crossing pass into the box that Kaseke put on frame off his head, requiring a great save from Horton.

Less than twenty seconds later, the Buffs fired off two more shots requiring saves, but keeping the pressure on Horton.

After a scoreless first frame, both teams began the second half with a furious, back-and-forth attack that saw seven shots, four from Milligan, in the first 11 and a half minutes of action. After Horton began the second half with four saves to keep his team in the match, Bryan finally broke through in the 66th minute with a score from Rafael Mentzingen to make it 1-0.

The back-and-forth battle continued as three more missed shots from the Buffs and two from the Lions led to the second goal of the match with less than nine minutes left to play. Bryan's Joe Goreham was the beneficiary this time on the pass from Marcelo Monterio.

Milligan, however, did not let up and fired five more shots at Horton and the Lions' defense, requiring another save and two blocks, all before a corner kick from Reilly found Kaseke in front of the goal where he headed it in to set up the nail-biting finish with two and a half minutes to play.

Milligan ended the second half with a number of close calls near the Bryan box, but was unable to get up a shot even when sending 10 players into the box on the final play, a free kick from Suits that was knocked away harmlessly by a Bryan defender.

Overall, the Buffs outshot Bryan 21-20, including 12-5 on shots on goal, thanks to their multitude of opportunities in the second half, but could not take advantage. One of the reasons was Horton, who finished with 11 saves in goal for Bryan, compared to Milligan's Nick Smith, who made three.

Milligan will close out the regular season with two road matches, beginning with AAC opponent Reinhardt on Wednesday, Oct. 28, at 3:30 p.m., and followed by neighboring King University on Saturday, Oct. 31, at 3 p.m. The conference tournament will follow during the first two weeks of November with higher seeds hosting the first two rounds.