INDIANAPOLIS – The Wright State men's soccer team finished with a dominant 23-8 shot advantage and controlled the pace most of the match, but host IUPUI used a late first half goal to hand the Raiders a 1-0 loss on Sunday in the Horizon League Championship quarterfinals and end the Wright State season.
 
Wright State finishes the year 4-9-5 overall under first year head coach Alex Van der Sluijs.
 
The Raiders held ball possession for the majority of the opening 45 minutes, ending the half with a 8-3 shot advantage with six corner kick opportunities, but IUPUI (7-6-5) used a transition opportunity in the 41st minute to tally what turned out to be the game-winning goal off the foot of Kenshiro Yamaguchi.
 
Wright State continued to dictate the pace in the second half, eventually finishing with a 15-5 second half shot advantage, but IUPUI keeper Lucas Morefield finished with a season-high nine saves to keep the Raiders off the scoreboard.
 
Some of Wright State's best chances came when the Raiders stacked multiple opportunities together. In the 63rd minute, Roman Kedgley's saw two straight shots blocked down in front of Morefield in a matter of seconds before the ball bounced right to Cole Werthmuller, who saw his attempt from straight on glance off the top of the crossbar and out of play to end the threat. The Raiders forced Morefield to make three more quality saves over the course of three minutes, with Conner Osterholt denied in the bottom left corner, Harrison Rody shut down in the right corner and Reece Allbaugh's drive turned away between the 64th and 67th minutes.
 
Wright State's final opportunity on frame came in the 72nd when, through traffic and bodies, Brock Pickett delivered a beautiful bicycle kick shot that was turned away by Morefield. The Raiders closed the final 15 minutes with four more attempts that missed the net – wide left from Werthmuller in the 74th, high and then wide left from Samuel Rudjord in the 78th and 82nd minutes and off target right from Kedgley with 35 seconds remaining in the last push of the afternoon.
 
Kedgley, Pickett and Werthmuller each finished with four shots to pace the Raiders, while Allbaugh, Rody and Rudjord each had three shots. Alessandro Malterer turned away three shots in net for Wright State and didn't face a ton of pressure, with IUPUI finishing the afternoon with just four shots on goal in their eight total attempts.
 
Lukas Hackaa and Jose Antonio Herrera each had two shots to combine for half of IUPUI's total shots, while the goal from Yamaguchi came on his first shot attempt of the season and his only attempt of the afternoon.