MORROW, Ga. - The Lander Men's Soccer team saw their season end just short of the NCAA Tournament on Sunday afternoon as they fell to the top-seeded and 16th-ranked Clayton State Lakers in the Championship Game of the PBC Tournament in overtime by a score of 4-2. 

Lander ends their season with a record of 9-5-4 while Clayton State gets the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament and improves to 15-3-0.

The Lakers pushed the issue early as they tested Juan Rodriguez (Nebo, N.C.) twice in the 14th and 19th minute but Rodriguez was there to make the save each time. However, it seemed that Clayton State had a great chance to take the lead when they were awarded a penalty kick in the 21st minute but the kick was skied and the game remained scoreless. Lander only had one shot on target in the first half and it came in the 35th minute off the foot of Jed Smith, but it was saved and the game went into halftime scoreless.

After halftime the Bearcats flipped the script as just 20 seconds into the half Christian Hatley (Nottingham, England) netted his 14th goal of the season to give the Blue and Gold a 1-0 lead. However, the lead was short lived as the Lakers were awarded another penalty kick in the 52nd minute and this time it was converted to tie the game at one a piece.

Just five minutes later, Lander would be awarded a spot kick of their own and Hatley would step up and secure his brace and give Lander a 2-1 lead. It was almost 3-1 just seconds after the restart as Jonah Miller (Charleston, S.C.) caught the Clayton State keeper off of his line but a great save would keep it a one-goal lead.

That save proved crucial as in the 61st minute, the Lakers equalized again.

After the flurry of goals in the first 15 minutes, the game settled down offensively but still maintained some physicality as four yellow cards were shown in the second half.

Despite a couple of shots from either team, none of them were on target and the game went into overtime.

This time it was Clayton State who struck first early in the period as they scored at the 55-second mark in the first overtime. Shortly after, the Bearcats found themselves a man down when Julien Sagnol (Saint Etienne, France) was sent off and the Lakers took advantage of the 11v10 quickly as they added an insurance goal in the 95th minute to make it 4-2. 

The Lander offense was held without a shot in both overtime periods and the Lakers were able to milk the remaining time left to take the title.

After the game, Christian Hatley (Nottingham, England), Zach Meyer (Brick Township, N.J.), and Rashawn Kellman (Bridgetown, Barbados) were named to the All-Tournament team.