DENVER – The Regis University men's soccer team (6-3-1, 2-1 RMAC) lost 3-2 in a grueling battle with the University of Colorado – Colorado Springs Mountain Lions (5-4-1, 1-2 RMAC) on Thursday afternoon.
 
How It Happened: Things did not start off well for Regis as they were called for a foul deep inside their 18-yard box which set up a penalty kick opportunity for the Mountain Lions 4:13 into the game. UCCS converted on the attempt and took an early 1-0 lead. 29 minutes later, after the Rangers had put together some strong offensive efforts, the Mountain Lions drew a free kick about 20-25 yards out from the goal. The UCCS bent his shot over the wall and into the left-side of the net, beating the RU goalkeeper to take a 2-0 lead with 11:53 left in the opening half.
 
Now trailing 2-0, Regis dialed in their offense, but they were unable to find the back of the net before halftime. Through the first 45 minutes, the Rangers had outshot their opponents 17-6. However, less than 10 minutes into the second half, the Mountain Lions struck again. Alex Andersson who had scored the first two goals for UCCS beat two defenders and bagged a hat trick to put the visitors ahead by three goals with 36:22 remaining in the game.
 
With the task even greater now, RU never gave up. Instead, they continued to fight and be aggressive on offense. This led to their first goal of the game when freshman Randolf Rothe linked up with junior Vilhjalmur Kaldal who headed the ball into the goal to bring the deficit back down to two goals, 3-1 in the 60^th minute. Soon after that goal, Regis was awarded a penalty kick opportunity of their own when a defender was called for a handball inside the box on a Rangers' attack. Kaldal stepped up and laced his shot to the left, but the Mountain Lions goalkeeper was there to make the stop. On the ensuing corner kick, sophomore Kyle Bergmeier's attempt at goal was also met with a save from the UCCS keeper. At that point, RU continued to pepper their shots at goal.
 
Finally, in the 80^th minute, graduate student Kevin Cela made a move towards the goal and before he was dragged down by his defender, he got a pass off to senior Kristian Hooker who buried his shot into the net to cut into the lead once again. At this point, the momentum was fully with the home team as they looked to tie the game in the final 10:05 that was left in the match. A couple of opportunities came to Regis inside the 18, but shots from Kaldal and graduate student Parker Klein were blocked on back-to-back occasions, thwarting the best opportunities the Rangers would have for the rest of the match. The match ended with the Mountain Lions on top, 3-2.
 
Game Notes: RU owned advantages in nearly every statistical category in the match outside of goals scored and saves made. Regis took 31 total shots in the match with 12 shots on goal. Additionally, the Rangers tallied 12 corner kicks while not giving up a single corner kick to UCCS. The Mountain Lions goalkeeper made 10 saves in the match, none more important than the save on RU's penalty attempt in the 65^th minute.

Up Next for the Rangers: The next competition for the Regis University men's soccer team will be this Sunday as they go head-to-head with the ThunderWolves of Colorado State University Pueblo at 1 p.m. on the Regis Match Pitch.