New Ulm, Minn. – A day after losing their shot at hosting a conference playoff game, the Crown men's soccer team suffered a second consecutive 3-2 loss on a tough weekend.  After dropping a heartbreaker in overtime at Minnesota Morris, the Storm lost by the same one goal margin at Martin Luther.

With plenty to play for on Friday, the Storm traveled to Minnesota Morris for a rematch with the Cougars.  In their first meeting, the Storm held on for a 1-1 draw after having a player sent off in the middle of the first half.

This meeting would get off to a rocky start after the Cougars scored inside of four minutes.  The game featured plenty of action, with the teams trading attacks for most of the first half. 
Tanner Fisher really kept Crown in the game, making a handful of incredible saves to keep the Storm within striking distance heading into the second half.

The tide would turn after about 11 minutes of action when Josiah Steinkamp scored with an assist from Daniel Arellano.  Just over 10 minutes later, Ger Jones netted his seventh goal of the season to put Crown out front.

The Storm then weathered numerous attacks by the home team who was desperately searching for a late equalizer. 

Crown wandered a bit too far down the pitch in the late moments of the game and Morris was able to score on the counterattack, tying the game at 2-2 with barely two minutes remaining.

The game would head to overtime, and with momentum squarely behind them, the Cougars scored the game winner less than five minutes into the first extra period. 

Crown had to rebound from that heartbreak quickly, as the Storm traveled to face the Martin Luther College Knights the next afternoon.

The events of the previous day took their toll as the Knights grabbed another quick goal to open the game.  MLC would add a second goal in the first half to take a 2-0 lead after just under half an hour.

Crown woke up, and quickly, as Truman Shetler scored just 12 seconds after Martin Luther's second goal, taking a pass off the kickoff and dribbling around two defenders before lofting a perfect shot over the keeper and into the far corner.  The goal was his 17^th on the season, tying the single season record held by Jon Schultz.

Martin Luther would add a goal early in the second half before Shetler and Sam Eckman connected with David Jensen for the junior's third goal of the season, once again pulling the Storm to within a goal. 

The Knights would hang on, however, earning a 3-2 win and keeping their playoff hopes alive, while putting Crown in a position of worry heading into the final weekend of the season. 

Crown can still lock up the third seed for the conference tournament with a pair of wins in the season's final week, and could earn that position with a win and a draw depending on the outcome of the vital matchup between Northwestern and Bethany Lutheran on Friday.