LEBANON, Ill.– The Drury Panthers pushed top-seeded, and 24th ranked McKendree to overtime in the Great Lakes Valley Conference quarterfinals on Sunday, but the Bearcats scored in extra-time to win 3-2 at Leeman Stadium in Lebanon, Illinois.
 
Drury never trailed until McKendree's overtime goal when Diego Tapia-Fraites fired a shot just under the crossbar in the 96th minute to send the Bearcats to the league semifinals.
 
The Panthers took a 1-0 lead midway through the first half as Pablo Berrogain scored his fourth goal of the season. McKendree answered early in the second half on Michael Hogsdon's to tie the game at 1-1. Berrogain struck again eight minutes later, though, and gave Drury back a 2-1 lead with his second goal of the game.
 
The Panthers held that lead until the 77th minute when Eddie Davis scored to even the contest and force overtime.
 
Four minutes into OT, Drury's Jamie O'Brien had a shot on goal with a header, but Bearcats goalkeeper Pachu Cortazar made the save, and McKendree would win the game three minutes later.
 
"I thought we were the better team today," said Drury head coach Ben Taylor. "Take nothing away from McKendree, they're very good, and they took advantage and move on. But we were technically very good, and our guys followed the game-plan to a T."
 
McKendree heads to the semifinals with a 14-2-2 record while Drury ends the season with a 9-8-2 mark. The Panthers finished the league standings in a three-way tie for sixth but were the eighth-seed on the conference tournament bracket. 
 
"I knew this was going to a rebuilding job when I got here," added Taylor. "After my first year (two years ago), we lost a lot of our top guys, and last year was tough, but we were very young. This year, we were still young, but we proved that we could play with the top half of the conference and some of the best teams in the nation. We'll learn from this, and we'll continue to get better."
 
 
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