Columbia, Mo. – This afternoon the Columbia College men's soccer team took the field for their AMC quarterfinal match against William Woods (Mo.) University. Before the match, players from both teams were recognized for efforts in the classroom as the AMC Academic All-Conference team was announced. There were nine players from Columbia College that were honored including: Zachary Felz, Mitchell Conning, Matija Ceraj, Mark Steiniger, Joey Koetting, Iain McTurk, Dan Reilly, Carter Cox and Akhil Noel. To be eligible for this award, student athletes must be in their second semester at their AMC institution and have at least a 3.0 GPA. Their efforts on and off the field are an accomplishment we at Columbia College do not take lightly and are very proud of.

The Cougars came into this game looking to get back to their winning ways after dropping the last match of the season in a 1-0 loss to Lyon (Ark.) College last weekend. Columbia played a very sound game on both sides of the ball and were able to defeat the Owls by a final score of 1-0 to advance to the AMC tournament semifinals.

The first half started off with the Owls controlling the pace of play from the opening whistle. They attacked the Cougars defense and created several scoring opportunities while keeping Columbia College out of their half. However, as the period progressed the Cougars were finally able to find their footing and started to push the tempo. Michael Mayberry, who had just been subbed into the game, provided the spark that the Cougars needed and finished off his team leading ninth goal of the season. The goal came after Columbia College worked the ball deep into the Owls half and earned themselves a corner. Dan Reilly took the throw and riffled it into the box where the ball bounced around before finding Mayberry on the near post to finish it off.

With the Owls season on the line in the second half, they came out of the break applying heavy pressure to the Cougars defense. Columbia College stood strong and did not allow the Owls to create anything dangerous early in the half. With the game edging closer to the final whistle, both teams started to get very chippy. There were several yellow cards handed out in the half including two to Pere Servera which resulted in a red card for the Cougar defender. Servera will not be able to play in the next game for Columbia College. With Servera out for the rest of the game, the Cougars were forced to play with only 10 men out on the field for the last seven minutes of the match. The Owls tried desperately to find the equalizer but were unable to do so as the Cougars were able to edge out the victory.

Iain McTurk was in goal for the Cougars recording four saves in the shutout. This was his fourth solo shutout of the season and the teams sixth overall.

Columbia College will be back in action on Tuesday, November 8^th when they take on the winner of tonight's AMC quarterfinal matchup between Lindenwood (Ill.) University-Belleville and Missouri Baptist University. If the Lynx win the game then the Cougars will play Lindenwood (Ill.) University-Belleville in Belleville, Illinois, at a time that has not yet been announced. If the Spartans win the game then the Cougars will host Missouri Baptist at 6 p.m. on R. Marvin Owens Field. The game tonight between the Lynx and the Spartans is set to start at 7 p.m