Virginia Beach, Virginia - Hoping to feed off their hot streak towards the end of the regular season, the Salem men's soccer team found themselves matched up with the Bryant & Stratton (Syracuse) Bobcats in the pool play round of the USCAA Division I Men's Soccer Championships held in Virginia Beach. Salem played well, but fell in dramatic fashion on penalty kicks. 

In the first half, Salem had their hands full as the Bobcats' offense was tough to handle initially. However, the Salem backline was up to the task, and they would carry the Tigers into the halftime break with a 0-0 draw on the scoreboard. 

In the second half, both teams tried to make a dent on the scoreboard as they frantically fought to take control of the game. The Bobcats drew first blood, but Mauricio Aguilar Renovales had some heroics in store for the Tigers. He would even the score in the waning minutes of the game, and the match moved into the overtime period.

For the overtime period, the game remained in a hard fought deadlock the whole way as neither team could find any viable scoring chances. After the overtime period, the game was pushed to the penalty spot, where Salem would come up short 4-3. 

While the result was not what the Tigers wanted, there were some bright spots on the stats sheet. For example, Salem was led by Mauricio Aguillar Renovales with the lone Tigers goal alongside 2 other shots on goal. Samir Doullouz also created some strong scoring chances for Salem. In goal, Samuel Reyne-Farje logged 9 saves. 

This is not the end of Salem's stay at the USCAA Championships, however. Salem is set to take on the Manor College Blue Jays on Saturday, November 12th at 12:15 PM in Virginia Beach, Virginia.