MIDWAY, Ky. - The "game of inches" adage proved true in a bad way for the Midway men's soccer team, which fell 2-1 in a tight non-conference game against Freed-Hardeman in the Eagles' final home contest of the regular season Tuesday.

Trailing 1-0 less than nine minutes into the second half, the Eagles caught a bad break when a long-distance shot by Thabo Mahlaha was re-directed into the net to double the Lion lead.

Just a little over four minutes later, Midway got back in the game on one of their best offensive plays of the season. Around midfield, Tomas Sarmiento made a pinpoint perfect pass between two defenders to Miles Ezell, who got just enough separation to push home his first goal at Midway.

With 7 minutes, 13 seconds to play, Midway, which held a 16-11 shot advantage for the game, got a great opportunity to pull even, when Andy Alfaro was pulled to the ground on a corner kick and was granted a penalty kick.

Unfortunately, Alfaro's shot would sail too high and proved to be the Eagles' last good scoring opportunity. 

Now 5-9-1 overall, Midway returns to River States Conference play next week with a great opportunity to not only qualify for the conference tournament, but earn a first-round home game.

The Eagles are currently fifth in the conference standings at 2-3-1, narrowly behind 2-2-1 Shawnee State. The two teams will play in Portsmouth, Ohio on Wednesday, Oct. 30.

The top-six teams in the league standings qualify for the league tournament. The top-two seeds get first-round byes, while seeds three and four host play host in the opening round.

The Oct. 30 game at Shawnee State begins at 8 p.m.