(LEBANON, Ill., Nov. 9)-  The McKendree University men's soccer team had their hopes of an American Midwest Conference tournament championship come to a halt on Tuesday night with a 3-0 loss to Columbia College.

The Bearcats, 12-4-3 overall, await word on whether or not they earned at-large bid to the NAIA National tournament. The tournament field will be announced on Sunday, November 14th.

The teams played even in the first half and both had five shots, but neither found the back of the net in 45 minutes of play. It wouldn't be until the 78th minute that a team got on the scoreboard, when the visiting Cougars took a 1-0 lead on a goal by Tim Tevlin. Columbia added another goal in the 81st minute to take a 2-0 lead and then put the game out of reach with a third goal in the 87th minute by Trey Bristow on an assist by Dylan Barduzzi.

Junior goalkeeper Joe Sagar (Oldham, England, Hulme) suffered his first defeat of the season and fell to 7-1-1 overall with the loss. Sagar had five saves in the loss.