MONMOUTH,IL -- The Monmouth men=s soccer team suffered a heartbreaking loss Saturday on their home field, dropping a 3-2 overtime decision to the visiting Beloit Buccaneers at Bobby Woll Field. Beloit continued its recent mastery of the Scots, who have lost to the Bucs in all three of their matches including a 3-0 loss in last year=s MWC tournament semifinal. Monmouth falls to 2-2 on the season and 1-2 in league action, as the Scots lost to both Lake Forest and Beloit, the two MWC North Division representatives in last year=s conference tournament, within the span of six days.

The Fighting Scots were behind 1-0 at halftime as the Bucs= Jason Stoltenberg opened the scoring in the 34th minute of the first period on an unassisted goal. Monmouth tied the match on a goal by senior striker Josh Oakley (Mattoon,IL/Mattoon) five minutes into the second half. Oakley, who scored both of the Scots= goals in the match and has tallied seven of the team=s nine goals this season, converted an assist from Jason Blair (Danville,IL/HS).

Beloit forged a 2-1 lead on a score in the 78th minute of play and appeared headed for victory with 30 seconds remaining in the match. However, the Scots were able to make a final run at the net and Oakley was tripped in the penalty area with time running out. Oakley connected on the penalty kick to tie the match once again and send it into overtime.

Monmouth dominated the action in the overtime period but could not capitalize on several scoring opportunities. With only five minutes left in the match, a Monmouth defender was whistled for an infraction directly in front of the Scots= goal and Beloit was awarded an indirect free kick only meters from the goal. The Bucs were able to punch in the winning shot and left with a 3-2 sudden-death victory.

The Scots will be on the road for three matches this week. On Wednesday the men travel to Bloomington to face Illinois Wesleyan in a non-conference contest (kickoff time 4:00 PM) before going north to Wisconsin for a weekend MWC doubleheader at Ripon and Carroll next Saturday and Sunday.