ATLANTA - The Oglethorpe men's soccer team fought valiantly Wednesday night against their crosstown rivals, the undefeated No. 9 Emory Eagles, taking a 1-0 lead into the 77th minute and then coming within three minutes of leaving Emory's campus with a tie. Unfortunately, it wasn't to be, as Emory scored a golden goal in the 107th minute to escape with a 2-1 victory.

After a scoreless first half in which the Stormy Petrels seemed to have the better of the run-of-play, they capped off all that good work with a go-ahead goal in the 62nd minute. Junior midfielder Nick Muntean sent a low cross in from the right side that fell perfectly in the box for fellow junior midfielder Angel Salome, who hammered it past the Emory goalkeeper for the 1-0 lead. It was Salome's third goal of the season and Muntean's third assist in the last two games and fourth overall.

From there, Oglethorpe looked to hold on for the victory, but Emory got the equalizer in the 77th minute off a low, knuckling shot along the ground that beat Oglethorpe sophomore goalkeeper Vaughn Moore.

With the score tied at 1-1, the two teams traded opportunities to win the game well into the extra-time periods. It looked as though Emory had won in the first period of extra time, but their goal was disallowed on an offside call. Moving into the second extra-time period, the Petrels had a golden opportunity skitter just wide of the left post.

Then, with just over three minutes remaining in extra time, Emory headed a ball past Moore off a long throw-in to secure the victory. The 107th-minute goal was a tough way to end the game for the Petrels, who had played the highly-ranked Eagles evenly all night long.

For the game, Emory outshot Oglethorpe, 23-20, but Oglethorpe put eight shots on goal to Emory's seven. Emory was able to attain 11 corner kicks to Oglethorpe's three, but six of those came in extra time. Emory committed 12 fouls to Oglethorpe's 10 and had three players issued cautions to Oglethorpe's one. Emory accrued four offsides to Oglethorpe's two.

Moore recorded four saves on the night, including an acrobatic diving effort to swat the ball off the line in the first period of extra time, saving the game for the time being. In addition to his assist, Muntean fired six shots, putting two of them on target. Salome put three of his four shots on goal, while junior midfielder Joe Goodwin fired three shots late in the game, putting two of them on goal.

With the loss, the Petrels fall to 5-5-1 on the season. They'll have to rebound quickly, as they begin SAA play on Friday evening when they travel to Mount Berry, Ga., to take on Berry. That game is scheduled to kick off at 5 p.m.