SURPRISE, Ariz. – Looking to pull the upset of No. 22 Menlo College, the OUAZ men's soccer team was turned away less than 90 seconds from the end of regulation as they fell 2-1 in a Golden State Athletic Conference game at Spirit Field.
 
Tied at 1-1 for over 80 minutes, the game appeared on its way to overtime. That changed as Menlo (9-3, 3-1 GSAC) countered an attempted free kick with a run up the sideline that ended with a shot across the area and into the goal from Eric Hegmann with 1:23 to the clock.
 
The start of the game didn't start well for OUAZ (9-2-1, 1-1-1) when a defender put the ball in their own goal on a failed clearing attempt in the eighth minute. That deficit didn't last long as the Spirit found life moments later when Mauricio Ochoa hit a shot off the post that was rebounded by Giovanni Ruelas for a shot inside the far post to even the game at 1-1.
 
OUAZ had a chance for a 2-1 lead in the 57th minute, but Samuel George's penalty kick was turned away by Menlo's keeper Andres Zimmerman. Neither team allowed the other many good chances the rest of the night.
 
The game was chippy and featured a total of 24 fouls and eight yellow cards. That slowed the pace of the game and led to just nine shots by OUAZ and eight from the Oaks. The Spirit had five of their chances on goal.
 
Ochoa led OUAZ with three shots with George getting off two shots.
 
Yuri Nascimento suffered the loss in net for the Spirit and he finished with four saves.
 
The Spirit are now seventh in the GSAC standings with four points and they will be back in action on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. when they host William Jessup University.