The Peacock men's soccer team fell to 0-2 in the MIAA on the season on Friday night after a loss on the road to the Bearcats of Southwest Baptist University. The game was scoreless at halftime, but a pair of goals in a three-minute span gave the home team the lead they would not relinquish. With the loss, Upper Iowa drops to 4-3 on the year, and have dropped three of its last four games. With the win, Southwest Baptist improves to 1-6 overall and 1-1 in league play.

"Southwest Baptist deserves all the credit," said UIU Head Coach Willie McGowan. "They had a very good game plan against us and we simply did not provide the movement and creativity needed to break them down. In the end, we created too many individual errors and did not take care of the things we could control."

The game was a defensive battle the whole way, and both offenses started slow in the first half. There were a total of 11 shot attempts in the first 45 minutes, with UIU holding a slight 6-5 edge. However, neither team would crack the scoreboard. Both goalkeepers, Connor Rortvedt and Matt Garza, registered two saves apiece in the half.

Statistically, the second half was identical to the first. UIU again led 6-5 in shot attempts, however, the home team took full advantage of their opportunities. Southwest Baptist had scored two times all season, but got their offense going in the 70th minute. Jaydon Charles sent a pass to Alberto Rodriguez who then sent it through the left side of the net to give SBU the lead. Two minutes later, the Bearcats scored again when Jose Marrufo sent a header into the net to give the home team a 2-0 lead. Upper Iowa had struggled to score the entire game, and the 2-0 deficit was too much to overcome.

Southwest Baptist held a significant advantage in corner kicks in the game, 7-2, but trialed the Peacocks overall in shot attempts, 12-10. SBU led 5-3, however, in shots placed on goal, and scored twice in the match. The win is very significant for Southwest Baptist; it snaps a 79-match winless streak for the program. The last win for the Bearcats came on October 12, 2012, against UIU, and since that game, went 0-76-3.

"The lads know that we weren't at our best," said McGowan. "But we know that we need to fix to be able to bounce back."

Upper Iowa will have Saturday off as a travel day when they head to Tahlequah, Okla. to battle the RiverHawks of Northeastern State University on Sunday, Oct. 1. The match gets underway at 12 p.m.