OKLAHOMA CITY (Oct. 13, 2018) – A late push by Oklahoma Christian fell agonizingly short on a chilly, wet Senior Day on Saturday at the Eagle Soccer Field.

Down by two goals with 23 minutes left, the Eagles rallied for one score and appeared to have another in their grasp, but a foul call ended their best opportunity to tie the game and they eventually fell 2-1 to Eastern New Mexico.

Eastern New Mexico (6-6-2, 4-4-2 Heartland Conference) moved past OC in the race for a spot in the league's six-team postseason tournament. The Greyhounds have 14 standings points and are in seventh place, with OC (6-7-1, 4-5-1) tied for eighth with 13 points. The current sixth-place team is St. Edward's (Texas) with 16 points.

Playing conditions were far from ideal. The start time was moved up by two hours to 11 a.m. in hopes of beating the remnants of Tropical Storm Sergio, but the storm arrived in central Oklahoma earlier than expected and the first half was played while heavy rain fell, leaving the field a muddy mess and making footing dicey. Making matters worse, the temperature at game time was only 50 degrees.

Eastern New Mexico took advantage of an early defensive error by the Eagles and Aderi Arthur-Dede scored on a shot from about eight yards out in the fourth minute to put the Greyhounds ahead.

The Greyhounds outshot OC 11-1 in the first half, but the Eagles got their offense untracked in the second half, posting a 9-8 advantage in shots. Still, Eastern New Mexico was able to build a 2-0 lead on a hotly disputed goal, when Arthur-Dede headed in a pass from Robert Leonard in the 67th minute. OC coaches protested that Arthur-Dede was offside, but officials allowed the goal to stand.

OC pulled within 2-1 in the 78th minute. Vinicius Alves sent in a leading pass from the right side and Diego Vazquez chipped it past Eastern New Mexico goalkeeper Ross Dalton from about 15 yards out. It was the fifth goal of the season for Vazquez and Alves' first career assist.

In the 87th minute, the ball was loose in the Eastern New Mexico penalty box following a corner kick and two Eagles appeared to have a bead on it to take a potential tying shot, but officials called a foul on OC, ending the opportunity.

Dalton made one save while OC goalkeeper Anthony Trabichet had seven. Trabichet leads the Heartland this season with 81 saves, 30 more than the goalkeeper in second place.

The home game was the last one for OC seniors Ignacio Barboza, Vanja Hodovic, Matheus Mantovani and Zourab Tsopourachvili.

The Eagles will close the season with four straight road games – next Thursday at Rogers State, next Saturday at Newman (Kan.), at St. Edward's on Oct. 25 and at No. 3-ranked Midwestern State (Texas) on Oct. 27. OC, which has a 4-1 record on the road this season, probably needs at least three more wins to make it into the Heartland postseason tournament.