The Lancaster Bible College men's soccer team fell back to the .500 mark on Tuesday afternoon, after suffering a 4-2 loss to Cairn at Charger Field. Lancaster Bible led early in the first half, but mistakes cost the Chargers throughout the game as they fell to 2-2 this season. Cairn improved to 2-3 this season as the Highlanders continued their recent dominance over the Chargers.

How it Happened: The teams exchanged chances throughout the first 15 minutes of the contest, but the score remained scoreless until the 16:44 mark when junior Caleb Nelson took a pass from senior Edward Bills and connected for his fourth goal of the season. Bills put a ball through the box that found Nelson who scored into the lower right-hand side to give the Chargers an early 1-0 advantage. 

Cairn responded less than 10 minutes later, as Joey Weaver took a crossing pass from John Michael Redding and scored as he charged to the back post. Redding's pass went through the box completely untouched and Weaver was able to sneak to the backside of the goal and knot the score at 1-1.

The Highlanders scored again with 4:37 remaining in the half as Brady Dorman received a pass from Kenneth Mercadante and scored into the right-hand corner for his first goal of the season. 

Lancaster Bible came out strong in the second half and worked hard to tie the game at 2-2, which they did at 54:17 when senior Dom Baffone scored his first collegiate goal off a great pass from freshman Chad Tolson. Tolson worked hard to maintain control of the ball and made a terrific cross to Baffone who was waiting to put the ball into the back of the net on the far post.

The good vibes from Baffone's goal evaporated almost immediately, as 3:52 later, Cairn re-took the lead off a misplayed ball in the Lancaster Bible box. A long shot from the side of the box went into towards the goal mouth and a defender, as well as Lancaster Bible goalkeeper Thiago Naque, each went for the ball and instead of it being headed out of trouble or caught by Naque, it dropped and bounced out to Cairn's Brendan Keller who calmly scored into a wide open net.

The Chargers pushed and pushed for the equalizer, but could never put the finishing touches on a goal. With Lancaster Bible bringing almost everyone forward in the final minutes, Keller got loose again behind the Chargers' defense and scored on a breakaway with 2:48 to play to seal the game for the Highlanders.

By the Numbers: Cairn outshot the Chargers, 12-10, but Lancaster Bible actually held a 6-5 edge in shots on goal...Lancaster Bible had six corner kicks, including five in the second half, while the Highlanders had three...Bills' assist was his third of the season, which leads the team...Nelson continues to lead the Chargers in scoring, as he now has four goals this season...Cairn goalkeeper Colin Baker made four saves for his first collegiate victory.

The Coach Says:  "There are a ton of things to learn from this disappointing game," Lancaster Bible Head Coach Tom Ardt said. "Allowing four goals is not acceptable and that is everyone's responsibility, staring with me as the coach. We have to bounce back from this, and we will."

Information Hodge Podge: Lancaster Bible is now 12-43-7 all-time against Cairn...The Chargers have not won against Cairn in Lancaster, since the 1992 season...Lancaster Bible defeated Cairn on penalty kicks in Lancaster in 2013, but the official result of that game is a tie...Baffone's first collegiate goal came in his 57th career game...Ardt is just 1-4-4 in his coaching career against Cairn...The Chargers last defeated Cairn during the 2014 season, a 2-0 victory in Langhorne.

Up Next: Lancaster Bible is off until next Monday when the Chargers face Gwynedd Mercy at 6 p.m. in Gwynedd Valley, Pa.