EDWARDSVILLE – The Wilkes University men's soccer team took on crosstown rival King's College in a highly contested Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) Freedom game but fell 1-0 at Schmidt Stadium Wednesday night with a steady light rain falling.

With the loss Wilkes fell to 6-7-0 overall and to 1-2-0 in MAC Freedom games. King's improved to 9-3-1 overall and to 3-0-0 in conference action.

The Monarchs scored the game-winning goal at the 78:47 mark when August Axtman shielded off junior goalkeeper Tim Gallagher (Easton, PA/Notre Dame Green Pond) and chested in a Kevin Mazol corner kick at the near post from two yards out.

Three minutes earlier it was the Colonels that almost grabbed the lead with consecutive corner kick opportunities. The first corner from junior Camry Huff (Waynesboro, PA/Waynesboro) found the head of junior Alvaro Fernandez-Maldonado (Louisville, CO/Scranton) but his header toward goal deflected off a King's defender to set up another corner. This time the ball found Fernandez-Maldonado again and his shot attempt went just high.

The closest opportunity for Wilkes came at the 53:01 mark when a shot by sophomore Cole Hefner (East Greenville, PA/Southern Lehigh) beat the King's goalkeeper but nailed the crossbar and deflected straight down and not into the goal.

The Colonels played the final four minutes a man down after a red card but were still able to pressure the Monarchs defense. With just over one minute remaining in the game senior Casey Ritsick (Mountaintop, PA/Crestwood) played a free kick from near midfield to the far post that just narrowly missed finding the foot of a teammate for the equalizing goal.

Gallagher made five saves for Wilkes. The back-and-forth game saw King's outshoot Wilkes 15-13 and by a 6-5 margin on goal.

The Colonels will travel to Center Valley, Pa. on Saturday October 14 to take on the No. 10 team in the United Soccer Coaches Mid-Atlantic Poll when they face DeSales University at 3:00 p.m. in a MAC Freedom contest.