Men’s Soccer: Rockhurst falls in NCAA regional finals

The fourth-ranked Rockhurst Hawks suffered a 2-1 loss in overtime to 12th-ranked Saginaw Valley State in the NCAA Division II Midwest Regional finals on Friday in Tahlequah, Okla.

Saginaw Valley’s Zach Myers scored the winning goal at the 95:52 mark on a shot that deflected off the crossbar and narrowly got past Rockhurst goalkeeper Ryan Bass.

Rockhurst ends the season with an 18-3-2 record. Saginaw Valley State, 16-2-4, advances to the national quarterfinals to face Northeastern State (Okla.) or Fort Hays State on Sunday at 1 p.m. in Tahlequah. Sunday’s winner will move on to the NCAA semifinals on Nov. 29 in Evans, Ga.

"When you go into this game with the record that we had in our conference and overall, we were hoping to go a little bit farther for our seniors," said Rockhurst coach Tony Tocco, who ranks second in all-time wins in NCAA men’s soccer with 618 victories.

Senior midfielder Ruben Perez scored his fourth goal of the season for Rockhurst to tie the score at 1-1 in the 23rd minute. Saginaw Valley took a 1-0 lead in the ninth minute. Rockhurst outshot Saginaw Valley 11-4 in the second half and narrowly missed several scoring opportunities. The Hawks finished with 18 shots, while Saginaw Valley ended up with 11 shots.

"I thought it was very good match between two very good teams," added Tocco. "We had three great opportunities in the second half to put the game out of reach. But we did not convert on any of them, at this level at this time of year you got to put the ball away."