The Peacock men's soccer team dropped a hard-fought, 2-1 decision to the No. 25 RiverHawks of Northeastern State University on Friday afternoon at Pattison Field in Fayette. Upper Iowa trailed 2-0 at halftime, but put together a nice second-half rally to nearly tie the match. However, the early deficit was too much as the visitors held on for the win. With the loss, Upper Iowa drops to 6-10 overall and 0-7 in the MIAA, while NSU improves to 13-4 and 6-1 in the league with the win.

"This was a tough one today," said Head Coach Willie McGowan. "We are gutted that we did not come away with a better result. I felt we were a much better team than the one who lost earlier this season to NSU. We really looked at ourselves in the mirror and showed another good side of ourselves today."

UIU was up for the challenge, however it was the visitors that caught the first break. Northeastern State was the beneficiary of a pair of penalty kicks in the first half that got the visitors going. The first foul occurred in the 13th minute against the Peacocks, but the penalty kick was saved by goalkeeper Connor Rortvedt. Rortvedt made a great play diving to his left to prevent the score. However, the RiverHawks would capitalize on their next chance.

The next foul occurred just 42 seconds later, as UIU was called for another penalty in the box. NSU's Jacob Weaver, who would prove to be Upper Iowa's kryptonite on Friday, scored his third goal of the season on the PK as he faked out Rortvedt. The score put NSU on the board, and they were not done in the first half.

In the 23rd minute, Weaver was at it again as he grabbed the ball after a scramble. UIU tried to head the ball out of harms way multiple times, but Weaver was there to corral it and send it through the back of the net to push the lead to 2-0. Upper Iowa's offense was struggling to get things going in the first half as well, and the visitors took the lead into halftime.

UIU was outshot 11-1 in the first half, but the one attempt was a quality shot. Ruairidh Crawford placed a perfect ball towards the goal, but NSU goalkeeper Ryan Davis made a nice play to prevent the score. Davis would come up big later in the match as well.

In the second half, Upper Iowa started to get their chances. UIU got on the board in the 50th minute when Italo Martins Soares took a pass from Crawford and found a way to score. The goal was his sixth of the season, and he is one behind Crawford for the team-lead.

"Our second-half performance was one of the better halves we've had this season," added McGowan. "We worked the ball into good areas, had a desire to win those individual battles, and put some pressure on a ranked opponent."

NSU led 5-0 in corner kicks in the first half, but UIU held a 2-0 advantage in that category in the second. The Peacock offense controlled the ball, and held a 10-8 lead in shot attempts in the frame. UIU got off eight shot attempts in the final 20 minutes of the game, including three chances in the final minute. A couple of big saves from Davis prevented UIU from finding the equalizer, and NSU walked off victorious.

For the match, NSU led 19-11 in shots, but UIU led 7-6 in shots placed on goal. It was a physical match as 30 fouls were called and three yellow cards were handed out. Martins Soares led the way with four shot attempts, while Marko Cirko and Tim Brackett each added two. Rortvedt tallied four more saves, bringing his season total to 93.

The Peacocks will wrap up their season on Sunday, Nov. 5 at Pattison Field as they host the Bearcats of Southwest Baptist University at 12 p.m. After the game, the team will honor its six seniors, Rortvedt, Brackett, Crawford, Ryan Crabtree, Fausto Ordenana, and Logan Dahnert.

"With Senior Day Sunday, we simply need to dust ourselves off and prepare well to send the seniors off on a high note," said McGowan. "They have done a lot for our program and we cannot thank them enough for their services to Upper Iowa."