Pride men's soccer drops heartbreaker in double overtime 1-0 to Mount Mercy

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa - In their third-straight overtime game, the Clarke University men's soccer team fell to Mount Mercy University 1-0 in double overtime in Cedar Rapids, Iowa on Tuesday night.

The game went scorless for over 105 minutes before MMU's Yu Sasaki headed home a short cross from Itsuki Ishihara as Sasaki found space in the middle of the box to put the feed into the back of the net.

The game winner was the long shot in overtime as Mount Mercy had been significantly outshooting the Pride throughout the game, finishing with a 21-13 shot advantage but only seven of those shots found their way on target. Clarke goalkeeper Fernando Contreras did all he could to keep the Pride in it making six saves including four in the second half and overtime combined.

The Mustangs held possession for a good amount of the game but especially in the second half and overtime periods, despite shots going an even 6-6 in the second half, only one made its way on net for CU in the final 63-plus minutes of the game.

The game had a generally physical nature resulting in in 26 total fouls, 14 for Clarke and 12 for Mount Mercy with CU receiving three yellow cards and the Mustangs getting booked with two yellows.

With Tuesday coming as their first loss in Heart of America Athletic Conference play, the Pride will have a tough task in front of them on Saturday when they travel to Baldwin City, Kan. to take on No. 8 Baker University.