MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. --- For 80 minutes, it was anyone's game Thursday afternoon in the Life University men's soccer team's NAIA Tournament First Round contest against Florida National, but a late four minute span that saw three Conquistador goals and a Life U red card put the Running Eagles in a hole they would not be able to overcome, losing 4-2.

Life U (14-3-1) held the momentum over the majority of the first half of the contest, outshooting Florida National (11-2-3) 10-3 over the course of the first half. The Running Eagle defensive effort did a great job of limiting the Conquistadors attacking opportunities. The Running Eagles did a good job of turning defense into offense, putting five of their 10 shots on frame, but a solid performance by FNU's goal keeper saw the game enter the break tied 0-0.

The second half saw the game's pacing become more even. Florida National put three shots on frame over the first 30 minutes of the second half, but excellent play by Luka Zakarija--especially his save in the 75th minute--kept the game in a 0-0 tie as the contest drew closer to its end.

It was as the clock drew closer to the 80th minute that the game would be decided, the dam opening with a goal by FNU at the 79:19 mark to see the Conquistadors take a 1-0 lead. Hardly a minute later, a red card assessed to Danny DeLorijn put the Running Eagles in the unenviable position of needing to come back while down a man. Goals in the 81st and 84th minute for FNU saw the Life U deficit expand to 3-0. 

At the 86:18 mark, the always reliable senior Luciano Diaz recorded Life U's first goal of the game to pull the score to 3-1. Florida National responded not even a minute later with another goal to truly put the game out of reach 4-1. A Conquistador foul in the penalty area in the 87th minute led to the final score of the game, Bart Kooistra taking advantage of the penalty kick opportunity to give the final score of 4-2.

Head coach Alex Pama spoke on the heartbreaking loss for his team. "It's tough to go out like this, but such is the sport. At this stage of the competition you need to be performing 100% and we didn't do this today. We picked a tough moment to have a collective off day."  Pama continued by congratulating the Conquistadors for the victory and thanking his seniors for all that they have done, saying, "Kudos to FNU for taking advantage of that and putting in a great performance. We wish them well the rest of the tournament. We thank our seniors for all they have given to our program and helping us to our first conference tournament championship."

Pama finished, stating, "Although today is a sour day, I am sure that when we look back at the season in a couple months, we can conclude that it's been successful. Now we focus on replacing the five seniors we had and build on this season's success."

With the loss, the No. 14 Life University men's soccer team's excellent 2022 season comes to a close.