Sept. 29, 2012 - This last week has been very much of a mixed bag for the Concordia men's soccer team. While the Cougars are now unbeaten in their last three matches, two of the matches have resulted in ties after Concordia had the lead down the stretch. That was the story of Saturday's home match against Lakeland College as the Muskies scored with 18 seconds left in the second half. No scoring occurred in the overtime, and the two teams settled for a 1-1 draw.

A wide-open first half featured no scoring but a combined 26 shots. Lakeland took 16 shots, forcing Concordia keeper Jorge Guzman (Cicero, IL/Morton East) to make eight saves. Concordia had 10 shots, five of which were saved by Muskies' keeper Alex Piekarski. However, it was a Lakeland defender that cleared DeAndre McLaurin's (Joliet, IL/Joliet West) shot at an open net after Piekarski was caught out that kept the game scoreless.

Early in the second half, McLaurin beat the defense to hit a hard shot past Piekarski for a 1-0 lead. The unassisted tally was McLaurin's third of the week, fourth of the season.

Remembering Marian's late comeback last week, Concordia pressed for the second goal. They appeared to have it when Kyle Joss (St. Charles, IL/St. Charles North) one-touched a long cross from the right side by Michael Amezcua (Cicero, IL/Morton East) past Piekarski to the right corner of the net. But the goal was disallowed on a very close offside call, and the Cougars' lead remained at one.

Lakeland pressed hard for the equalizer and they got it in the 90th minute. The Cougars were unable to clear the ball from deep in their zone, and a loose ball came in front to Daiki Sato who powered it past Guzman from close range.

The Muskies finished with 31 shots to the Cougars' 23. Guzman made 13 saves while Piekarski finished with eight.

Concordia (1-7-2, 1-2-2 NAC) returns to action Monday afternoon with a non-conference match at Lake Forest College.