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OLATHE, Kan. – The No. 18-ranked Northeastern State men's soccer team saw its season come to an end with a 3-2 loss to Fort Hays State in the semifinals of the MIAA Championship Thursday night at the College Boulevard Activities Center.

The RiverHawks (10-3-4), seeded No. 3 in the tournament, completed a season that saw the side ranked inside the top 25 for the entire year. NSU will miss out on the NCAA Championship after advancing to the NCAA quarterfinals a season ago. Fort Hays State (11-4-2), the tournament's No. 2 seed, advanced to the finals of the conference tournament and will meet the winner of No.1 Lindenwood and No. 4 Upper Iowa.

Ricardo Yeverino opened the scoring for the Tigers with a marker in the 11th minute, and Northeastern State equalized just 27 seconds later when junior forward Jordan Schmoker found the back of the net with help from junior forward Juan Peralta and sophomore midfielder Crosby Lee.

Michael Cole put FHSU up in the 23rd minute and the black and gold took a 2-1 advantage into halftime.

Cole scored his second of the match in the 65th minute, which proved to be the game winner after Schmoker added his second of the match in the 66th minute.

The RiverHawks could not find the equalizer and fell to 2-3-3 all-time to the Tigers.

Sophomore goalkeeper Eric Shephard (5-2-3) allowed three goals and made six saves, while Jason Babyak stopped six NSU shots.

Scoring Summary
#3 NSU 1 1 – 2
#2 FHSU 2 1 – 3

Individual Scoring
Ricardo Yeverino (FHSU) at 10:48 (Jaccob Rangel)
Jordan Schmoker (NSU) at 11:15 (Juan Peralta, Crosby Lee)
Michael Cole (FHSU) at 22:53 (Jaccob Rangel)
Michael Cole (FHSU) at 64:03 (Ricardo Yeverino)
Jordan Schmoker (NSU) at 65:50 (Juan Peralta)

Goalkeeper Saves
Eric Shephard (NSU) – 5
Jason Babyak (FHSU) – 6

NORTHEASTERN STATE COACH ROB CZLONKA
"Obviously it's tough to take a loss in the conference tournament and be done with your season. Our guys played hard all year and I'm proud of them. I thought we were an aggressive team tonight, but Fort Hays State played us well and we didn't get the result. They capitalized on a couple of minor mistakes that we made, and typically those types of mistakes don't result in goals. The third goal came because we were pushing forward trying to get the equalizer. That's the risk you take when you start to go for another goal. You move men forward and you open up holes in your defense."

-GoRiverHawksGo.com-