OLATHE, Kan. - Grace College's men's soccer team continued its stretch of playing nationally ranked opponents with a contest against No. 15 MidAmerica Nazarene on Saturday afternoon.

Despite outshooting the Pioneers 17-9, the 16th ranked Lancers came up a goal short as they fell by a final score of 2-1.

It was all Grace early as the Lancers had the first five shots of the game and only allowed MNU one shot the entirety of the opening half.

Martim Sequeira had three of the early chances for Lancers all of which were parried away by the Pioneer keeper. MNU's only shot of the half came at the 25-minute mark, but the try was sent wide.

With 15-minutes left in the first half, Sequeira had another try on goal, and Grace had a corner kick but both chances were thwarted and the game remained a scoreless tie at the intermission.

The Lancers had a 7-1 shot advantage in the first and both teams had a corner kick opportunity.

The second half was not far along when the game's first goal was finally found.

The Pioneers used sustained pressure to break through the lancers defense and netted the go-ahead goal.

Grace and MNU traded chances over the next 10-minutes, but it was the Pioneers who once again broke through.

MNU capitalized on a corner kick opportunity and buried the goal to take a 2-0 lead with 25-minutes remaining in the game.

The Lancers remained undaunted, and just three-minutes later cut the deficit back to a single marker.

Juan Garcia sent a shot on goal that was saved but the rebound fell to freshman Josh Cruz who took advantage of the golden opportunity to score his first career goal.

The Lancers continued to mount pressure late. Grace had a trio of corner kicks four shots but was unable to find the equalizer, falling by the final score of 2-1.

Sequeira led all players with seven shots and Matteo Conci made three saves. MNU was called for 15 fouls compared to Grace's 13 and both teams were awarded four corner kicks.