Romeoville, Ill. -- Lewis University's men's soccer team came up short in a 2-1 overtime loss against Illinois-Springfield at Lewis Stadium on Sunday afternoon. The Flyers drop to 1-4 while the Prairie Stars improve to 2-1-3.
 
The Prairie Stars were aggressive to start the match, attempting a shot in the 12th minute, but the Flyers quickly responded on a counterattack but failed to convert.
 
A yellow card given to Jay Hakki gave Lewis the perfect opportunity to get on the board first, but Jimmy Mwanga (Dublin, Ireland/CBS Lucan) put too much spice and hit the crossbar on his penalty attempt. In the 30th minute, Illinois-Springfield was given a free-kick right outside the penalty box, however, the attempt was blocked by the wall.
 
Armando Rosiles tried to put the Prairie Stars up a score on a kick to the lower right corner, but Will Maurice (Minooka, Ill./Minooka) successfully defended the goal and sent the game into halftime scoreless.
 
In the 62nd minute, Mwanga went wide left, and an attempt by Matthew Beaulieu (South Elgin, Ill./St. Charles North) soared over the crossbar. Things got chippy in the second half as four yellow cards were assessed to UIS and two to the Flyers.
 
The Prairie Stars took the lead in the 80th minute on a free kick from yards out as Javier Milla bent one into the lower right corner for his first of the season. Lewis came right back scoring the equalizer 2:35 later as a hand ball in the box resulted in a penalty kick for Domenic Baumann (Bergheim, Germany/Brauweiler). Baumann drilled his attempt into the lower right corner for his second of the seaon.
 
Lewis had a chance to win the game in the final minute as Mwanga got free in a scrum in the box and had an open goal to shoot at but it off the crossbar and then Noah Wolff (Stockholm, Sweden/IFK Lidingö) had a chance at the rebound but couldn't get a foot on it.
 
Three minutes into overtime, Illinois-Springfield broke the tie from a goal by Quentin Reese. Luke Ridley served a ball from the left end line across the box to Mario Gonzalez who chested it down to Reese who put it in for his first goal of the season.
 
The Flyers are on the road against Quincy on Friday, March 19 at 7:30 pm.