It was a tough day for the varsity boys soccer squad.

The Lancers lost to a formidable Mehlville Panthers team, one who is currently undefeated in the Suburban West Conference.

The game was at an 1-0 Panthers lead until about 7 minutes left, when junior David Marshall scored off of a free kick by senior Connor Schene, eventually sending the game into overtime.

However, despite the great effort put up by the Lancers, erratic penalties hurt them throughout the entirety of the match. The yellow cards influenced the game so much that it caused Mehlville to score off  a free kick, and give them the win in the OT period.

This has been a problem for the team all season.

Senior goalkeeper Brendan Carnahan said “We’ve had a lot of  ‘almost’ wins this season, games where either lack of scoring or dumb penalties have killed us in the end.”

Even with their modest 7-5-1 record, the Lancers will have to keep their cool when facing their Suburban West Conference rivals, the Parkway South Patriots, this Thursday.

“The game against [Parkway] South will decide how we are seeded in District playoffs, so this is definitely the biggest game of the year for us.” said Carnahan.

The match against the Patriots begins this Thursday, Oct. 2nd at 6:00 p.m. and will be at Parkway South. If the Lancers can push all of their mistakes aside for just one night, then this could quite possibly be the most important game we’ve seen all season.