ATHENS, TENN. - CIU men's soccer hit the road to take the pitch against Tennessee Wesleyan University for the first round of the Appalachian Athletic Conference Men's Soccer Tournament. When the two teams met up earlier in the season, the Bulldogs got the best of the Rams and took them down 1-0. The contest would have a similar ending, as TWU scored with less than eight minutes remaining to halt CIU's postseason run. The Rams are now 10-5-3 on the season. 

Match Summary: Sohya Yamamoto started the Rams' offense, taking his first shot just two minutes in. Zion Atkinson followed with an attempt of his own that sailed high. Then, the Bulldogs' keeper was able to haul in Lucas Galdino's shot (9:54). 

TWU then took the ball down to CIU's defensive end and put Matias Breit to work. He quickly picked up two blocks and two saves to keep the Bulldogs off the board. The Rams came close to scoring off of Atkinson's header from Yamamoto's corner, but the ball flew over the crossbar (24:14). 

Breit picked up two more saves before Gabriel Rokov's attempt was also gathered in by the keeper to keep the score 0-0 going into the intermission. 

In the second half, the Bulldogs' offense got things started. Once again, Breit picked up two saves while Paul Schutte's header slipped wide. After a blocked shot, TWU was awarded a corner kick, but their shot attempt also went wide. Minutes later, Breit gathered in another shot (67:44). 

The Rams were awarded a corner kick that Lucas Galdino took but couldn't capitalize on this opportunity. After Atkinson's shot was blocked, the Bulldogs found the back of the net to take a 1-0 lead late in the game (83:51). The Rams took one more shot by way of Marco Muhlebach before the buzzer, but they couldn't even out the score to force overtime and fell 1-0. 

The Rams totaled 12 shots, with Atkinson leading with three and Rokov, Schutte, and Galdino following with two. Breit picked up a career-high of nine saves. 

Up Next: CIU looks ahead to the NCCAA South Region Tournament.