The Lancaster Bible College men's soccer team saw its 2018 season come to a close on Saturday, as the Chargers lost to Grace (Ind.), 3-2 in Winona Lake, Ind. in the NCCAA Division I Midwest Region Final. The Chargers cap the 2018 season with a record of 12-8-1, as they made appearances in both the North Eastern Athletic Conference Final and the NCCAA Midwest Region Final.
 
Lancaster Bible's overall record is now 13-7-1, while the Lancers fell to 12-4-4. Just two years ago, Grace defeated Lancaster Bible, 7-1 in the Midwest Region Final in Winona Lake.
 
Game Recap: The Chargers opened the game strong, as junior Dan Bewersdorff opened the scoring in the 13th minute to give Lancaster Bible a 1-0 lead. In an evenly played first half, the Lancers responded 11 minutes later, as Nikola Djordjevic netted his first goal of the season to knot the score at 1-1.
 
The teams played the rest of the half evenly, as each team recorded offensive chances, and the respective goalkeepers stood their ground.
 
Grace pressed to take the lead in the opening 10 minutes of the second half, but Lancaster Bible's defense was up to the task, as the Chargers fought off three straight corner kicks from the Lancers, and Lancaster Bible goalkeeper Jake Deterline made a strong save with 34 minutes remaining.
 
Lancaster Bible had a corner kick of their own with 25 minutes to play, but the cross was tipped and a shot from 20 yards out went wide to the left. Just four minutes later, the Lancers had a terrific chance to score, as a Grace forward came down the left side, and actually got the ball past Deterline, but senior Jared Jordan raced to the goal line and was able to clear the ball before it crossed the line. It wound up being a huge defensive save, because less than a minute later, the Chargers earned a penalty kick when Estiven Saldarriaga was tackled in the box.
 
Junior Joel Hughes stepped to the ball, and buried his second penalty kick of the season to give the Chargers a 2-1 advantage. Hughes took a loop around the ball just like he did against Penn College on Oct. 10, and scored into the right-side of the net.
 
Grace went on the offensive looking for the equalizer in the final 15 minutes, and though it took 10 minutes, they found it with a goal at 85:16, by Cody Boerema. With the teams now thinking about a possible overtime period, Djordjevic got free with 59 seconds remaining and took a pass from Joshua Coupar and netted the game-winner for the Lancers.
 
By the Numbers: Grace led in shots, 25-10, including 13-7 in shots on goal…Lancaster Bible had three corner kicks, while the Lancers had five…Deterline made nine saves for the Chargers, while Kurt Hamiln made five for the Lancers…Bewersdorff's goals was his third of the season, while Hughes netted his fourth of the year.
 
Information Hodge Podge: Lancaster Bible is now 0-2 all-time against Grace, with both meetings coming in the past three years…Five players posted double-digit points for the Chargers this season, led by Chad Tolson who had 18…Lancaster Bible was 7-5-1 in games away from Donald H. Funk Field this season, including 6-5-1 in true road games…Senior Jared Jordan caps his career with five goals and 11 assists for 21 points…Fellow senior Tony Gehman ends his career with two goals and two assists.