Box Score  
Box Score

The Upper Iowa men’s soccer team had the start they wanted against visiting Clark University on Wednesday afternoon, but it went downhill from there. The Peacocks lost an early lead and gave up back-to-back goals in the second half to fall to the Crusaders, 3-1, in a non-conference match at Pattison field.

UIU has dropped its past two matches and fall to 5-10 on the year, yet through the opening 20 minutes it seemed as if it was the opposite.

The Peacocks earned the first lead of the match thanks to a deflected Alejandro Castaneda shot that was scooped up and scored by freshman forward Andres Cuesta. The Bogota, Columbia native was inserted into the match for an injured Dan Rasmussen and was called upon right away.

Castaneda fired from 25-yards out, but his shot was blocked. Before the Crusaders could corral it, Cuesta kicked it to the back right of the net and scored his second goal of the season and second goal in two days.

“Once again, he stepped up for us and got a goal,” assistant coach Jason Olsgard said. “That was good to see – that he’s still having that type of performance that he had last week.”

Cuesta found the net for the first time in 2012 against Fort Hays State in the 69th minute of action against the Tigers.

For about 13 minutes UIU held onto Cuesta's 1-0 lead, but Clarke answered in the 28th minute of action with a goal from Austin Perry and the teams headed into halftime tied at 1-1.

The Peacocks were getting shot attempts off, but could not connect with the net early in the second half. The opposite was true for the Crusaders.

In the 65th minute, a foul was called inside the Peacocks 18-yard box. Miguel Silva took the penalty kick for Clarke and scored his first goal of the season, giving the Crusaders a 2-1 lead.

Just four minutes later, the Crusaders found the net again, this time it was Dino Ramic who scored and ultimately sealed the 3-1 victory.

UIU had 21 total shot attempts, but found the back of the net only once. Finishing scoring opportunities has affected the team all year, but Olsgard and the rest of the Peacock coaching staff can still look at the positives.

“The best part about it is that we have two opportunities on Friday and Sunday to get the ball rolling our way,” he said, "and get some momentum going into Truman next week. Yes, it was a loss today, but if we can get through training tomorrow, then on Friday we have another opportunity at home to get some momentum built up.”

UIU will host Southwest Baptist University this Friday for a 2 p.m. battle at Pattison field. The Peacocks will look to improve on their 2-5 MIAA conference record against the Bearcats. Click here for live stats of that match.