The Buena Vista men's soccer team took the field on Tuesday night needing a win to have a chance at its first conference tournament berth in 12 years, but the Beavers came up just short inside J. Leslie Rollins Stadium with a tough 2-0 loss to Nebraska Wesleyan.

It was an intense battle between the two sides throughout the match with the final conference tournament berth on the line for the winner.  Neither offense was able to pull through until there were 11 seconds left in the opening half.  The Prairie Wolves, which held a 12-7 edge in total shots for the contest, got a key insurance goal in the first 15 minutes of the second half to go up 2-0.

BVU had some good looks down the stretch looking make a comeback, but couldn't quite convert them as they wound up being narrow misses as the team had just one shot-on-goal.

Jared Dow had three of the team's seven shots while Gor Riak had the one shot-on-goal.  Manuel Garcia Aguilar posted four saves in a losing effort.

"Tough way to end conference play," said head coach Ben McArthur.  "Tonight, NWU was better when they needed to be.  They finished their chances and we could not capitalize on our chances.  My guys always play hard, and they have shown a lot of heart through this season."  

Nebraska Wesleyan, with the win, earned the sixth and final spot into the American Rivers Conference Tournament which gets underway on Saturday.

Buena Vista dips to 1-14-1 on the year and closes out conference play at 0-8.  The team will now play a non-conference match at Gustavus Adolphus on Wednesday afternoon starting at 3:30pm to wrap up the season.