GREAT FALLS, Mont. – A bevy of early chances didn't hit home for the University of Providence men's soccer team and in the end, that cost the team the game against Northwest University. The Argos fell 2-1 to the Eagles in a loss that has UP right on the edge of the Cascade Collegiate Conference playoff picture.
 
The Argos were clearly the more dangerous team through the first 13 minutes and had a couple of golf opportunities to score.
 
An impressive individual performance from freshman midfielder George Almeida in the 9th minute was UP's first close-but-not-quite moment. The Brazilian spent a good 30 seconds battling through four or five Eagle defenders, dribbling through them, losing the ball, winning it back, and repeating until finally breaking free for a brief moment in the middle of the field and about 25 yards out.
 
Almeida took that opening to let off a cracker of a shot that dipped towards the upper right corner of the Northwest net but clanked off the crossbar instead of scoring.
 
Less than four minutes later, junior Luis Macias took a corner kick from the right of the Eagle net and sent in a ball that made it to senior forward Christoffer Bisbo at the far post. Bisbo, whose almost every touch has turned to gold in 2017, got a clean head on the ball and looked to have the keeper beat, but instead of scoring the ball hit off the post and ricocheted back into the fray of bodies.
 
Over the course of about 30 seconds, the Argos got off at least 4 shots from inside the penalty box, but each effort was blocked by an NU defender before reaching the goal.  
 
Northwest didn't waste much time capitalizing on the failure of that Argo flurry. In the 15th minutes,  a cross  from the left wing into the UP penalty box was gathered and dropped back to NU's Jake Morse who was wide open from 18 yards out and scored.
 
UP's junior midfielder Adrian Gomez almost had an answer in the 30th minute, taking a low, hard strike from 20 yards out that was on target but batted away by a diving save.
 
The Argos had 2 corner kicks and another shot on goal in the next three minutes, but again those efforts failed to score and Northwest regained control of the game. The Eagles almost scored in the 36th minute, requiring a defensive save from senior defender Rasmus Madsen, and then got a second score two minutes later to send the Argos into the half down 2-0.
 
After a few more close calls, the Argos finally found the finishing touch in the 69th minutes. The goal came on a great ball from redshirt-sophomore forward Cole Meyers that passed untouched through Argos and Eagles before finding senior forward Christopher Chavez waiting unmarked by the back post. He easily finished into an open net to pull UP within 1 goal.
Despite the team's best efforts in the final 20 minutes, the Argos struggled to break down the Eagles defense which had by then parked the bus in front of the net.
 
By the final horn, UP had outshot Northwest 21-13 with 1 more shot on goal and 1 more corner kick.
 
The loss puts the Argos on the brink of missing out on the CCC playoffs for the first time in program history. UP is currently in a three-way tie with the College of Idaho and Carroll College for the eighth and final playoff spot. All three teams have 15 total points COI still have three games left, while UP and CC have two remaining contests.
 
Those two remaining games will be on the road against Southern Oregon (tied for first in the CCC) on October 27, and Oregon Tech (seventh in the CCC) on October 28.