Elsah, ILL. --Despite an incredible four goal game by
Kaleb Keller, Principia men's soccer loses 5-4 in a hard-fought final game of the season against Webster University. While the Panthers knew going into tonight's game that they did not have a chance to advance to the SLIAC Conference Tournament*, the men's team played the game with all of the energy and fight of a conference final. At three different points in the game, Principia was down to Webster, yet Principia continued to battle until Webster scored their 5
th and final goal in the 89
th minute at which point Principia had no time to respond.
Webster opened the scoring early in the 9
th minute of the game. Keller responded with a great individual effort in the 35
th minute with a shot that ripped through the Webster keeper's outstretched hands. Principia then went down a goal in second half in the 54
th minute. However, the Panther's responded in the 57
th minute of the second half when Keller tied the game back up at 2-2 after earning and converting a PK in the box. Then in the 58
th minute Keller scored again to put the Panthers in the lead for the first time in the game with the scoreboard reading 3-2. Suddenly in the 80
th and 84
th minutes, Principia let go of the lead when Webster scored back to back goals. Even though it seemed like the game was over, Keller then found a way to score for the fourth time in the 89
th minute to bring the game back to even at 4-4. Then, the inconceivable happened, when the game seemed destined to go into overtime with seconds left on the clock, Webster found their 5
th and final goal with just 16 second left in the game.
The highlight of tonight's game was Principia's
Kaleb Keller who continued his prolific scoring streak, scoring all four goals and smashing school records along the way. Keller broke his record of 18 goals in a season this year with a total of 22. On top of now holding other major attacking records at Principia, Keller is now ranked #1 in the NCAA for points** per game with 3.84.
*This past Saturday, Principia learned that Fontbonne beating Webster - and Iowa Wesleyan winning out -meant that even if Principia won tonight they would not be able to advance to the tournament. How the math all worked is complicated and the Conference tie breaker had to be used. The end result was that Principia was lost on 2nd round of the tie breaker because they did not beat either the first or second seeds in the Conference and the other teams had one win against top seeds apiece.
**In soccer, a goal is worth 2 pts and an assist 1 pt.
