SPRINGFIELD - The Missouri State men's soccer team scored two goals in the last four minutes on senior night to earn a tie with visiting Charlotte, 2-2, on Sunday night.
Senior Daniele Verdirosi scored a penalty in the 86th minute, and an own goal by Charlotte forced by junior Diego Real in the 89th minute sealed the tie. This result secured the Bears' spot as the No. 5 seed in the 2025 American Conference Men's Soccer Championship Tournament. The Bears will travel to No. 4 seed FIU on Friday evening in the quarterfinal round.
On Sunday, the Bears (6-5-4, 3-3-2) were the first to create scoring opportunities, with freshman Harry Hogben taking the first shot in the seventh minute, missing out to the top right of the goal.
But Charlotte (8-4-3, 5-1-2) implemented precise and calculated aggression to find the back of the net first. In the 13th minute Charlotte's Natsuki Ogata scored with a double assist by Ben Fisher and Jemone Barclay.
The Bears worked hard to create chances but were unable to get on the board in the first half. In the 21st minute senior Ollie Bate shot out to the top right of the goal. 10 minutes later senior Fumiya Shiraishi replicated the sentiment, but out to the top left of the goal. In the 37th minute, junior Alex Matthews also shot out to the top right. In the 42nd minute junior Daniele Aracri and in the 45th minute freshman Bruno Cellerino both missed out the top of the goal.
The 49ers came out the blocks strongly in the second half. Once again, they found a way to advance towards the goal and score past the Bears defense in the 62nd minute. Elias Arsvoll scored with an assist by Tate Asante.
In the 75th minute, the 49ers attacked again, with a shot on goal by Jemone Barclay. But senior Will Lowry made a great save to deny Charlotte another goal.
It looked like Charlotte was in cruise control until the very last four minutes, where the Bears pulled off an incredibly spirited comeback.
A hard foul by 49er Landon Petz on Verdirosi gave the senior a penalty kick in the 86th minute. After a video replay, Verdirosi was awarded the penalty, which he assuredly put into the back of the net to make it 2-1.
"I tried to just focus on the kick and I was so happy to score and help the team come back tonight," exclaimed Verdirosi after the game.
Missouri State kept fighting hard. A corner kick set up an opportunity for aggression in the last two minutes. A hard shot by Real forced an own goal by Charlotte to tie the scoreboard at 2-2 in the 89th minute.
Missouri State tallied 10 shots with two on goal, while the 49ers shot 11 shots with five on goal. The Bears tallied nine corner kicks while the Tigers collected eight.
"This has been a challenging season, but the boys have risen to the occasion," said head coach Michael Seabolt of his team's performance. "As for my seniors, I am very proud to get to work with this great group of young men and I feel very honored to work with such a great group of guys and be able to coach at Missouri State."
Charlotte earned the No. 1 seed and a shared the American Conference regular-season crown with Florida Atlantic which earned the No. 2 rank in the conference tournament. The top two seeds earned an automatic first-round bye.
In the other first-round matchup, No. 3 seeded South Florida (9-2-5, 5-2-1) will host No. 6 seeded Tulsa (4-8-4, 3-3-2).
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