The Oglethorpe men's soccer team suffered its first SAA loss since Oct. 2015 Friday, breaking a 32-game unbeaten streak in conference play while falling 2-1 to the homestanding Birmingham-Southern Panthers in Alabama. The defeat also eliminated the Stormy Petrels from the race for the SAA regular season title, marking the first time since 2014 that the team will not achieve that.

The Petrels fell behind 1-0 in the 12th minute, putting themselves behind the eight-ball early. Each team had chances in the opening half, with Birmingham-Southern outshooting Oglethorpe 5-4 over the opening 45 minutes. 

After a halftime interval that lasted nearly 90 minutes due to lightning in the area, the Petrels retook the field and quickly responded, tying the score 1-1 on a Logan Llano strike in the 49th minute. He did it off an assist from freshman defender Luke Giordano, and the visitors were right back in the game. The Petrels saw the better of the run-of-play in the second half, outshooting Birmingham-Southern 10-6 over the course of the period. However, Birmingham-Southern broke through again in the 76th minute, retaking the lead 2-1. The Petrels had a couple of scoring chances in the game's final 10 minutes, but just couldn't bury the equalizer.

With the defeat, the Petrels fell to 3-1-2 on the season overall and 3-1-1 in SAA play. They've secured a spot in the four-team SAA tournament, which is set to take place April 16 and 18 in either Birmingham or Mount Berry, Georgia. Oglethorpe will hold either the No. 2 or 3 seed.