BOX SCORE

COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. - The Bethel University men's soccer team took a 3-2 lead late into a conference matchup with Saint John's University before a pair of Johnnies goals spelled disaster.  The 4-3 loss was the end of a back-and-forth game and dropped Bethel to 7-4-2 on the season and 2-4-0 in MIAC play.

All of the scoring in Wednesday's game came in the first 20 minutes and the final 20 minutes.  Saint John's (7-5, 2-4 MIAC) knocked in the first score of the game early on, but Brian Holm (Jr., Champlin, Minn.) broke away down the field and put a shot just past the Johnnie keeper's hands at the 9:08 mark to tie things up 1-1.  The Johnnies scored again before 20 game minutes passed and took a 2-1 lead into the half.

The Royals caught a break following nearly 60 minutes of scoreless play when a ball passed through the box resulted in an own goal and tied things up at the 75:57 mark.  The heated game got even further fired up less than a minute later when Bethel's Martin Manocchio (So., Austin, Minn.) put the Royals up 3-2.  Manocchio intercepted a pass and found himself all alone just outside the left side of Saint John's goal.  He drilled the ball in for the lead.

Riding on the high of their fortune, the Royals were disheartened to see how the final minutes of play would go down in the books.  Johnnie Michael Coborn touched in a pass to tie the game up at 77:58, the game's third goal in two minutes of play.  The go-ahead score came at the 85:59 mark when the Johnnies worked their way to a corner kick and put in their fourth goal.

Manocchio and Holm were Bethel's leading offensive players with five and three shots on goal each, respectively.  Keepers Leif Sundberg (Sr., Mahtomedi, Minn.) and Chris Scott (So., Cedar, Minn.) split time in the net, each giving up a pair of goals.

The Royals remain on the road for a Saturday matchup at Concordia College.  The game kicks off at 1 p.m. in Moorhead.