WINONA LAKE – Grace’s men’s soccer team came up just short in its pursuit of a Crossroads League championship, falling 3-2 to Taylor in overtime on Saturday.

The Lancers (11-5-1, 6-2-1 CL) end the regular season in second place heading into next week’s CL Tournament. Grace will host seventh-seeded Huntington on Oct. 31 at Miller Athletic Complex.

Grace had the lead twice on Saturday. The Lancers got on the scoreboard early against the Trojans (4-11-2, 2-6-1 CL). Dominic Harris passed a ball along the top of the penalty box to Nakilee Weni, and Weni placed his shot around Taylor’s goalkeeper three minutes into the match.

Taylor responded in the 28th minute, scoring on a counterattack to level the score 1-1.

Ten minutes later, Grace went in front again. Dominic Harris muscled through a pair of Trojan defenders and left a ball for Mitchell Zeilenga who converted his clean finish at the 37:03 mark.

The Trojans were swift in response, however. After a mispass by Grace’s defense, Taylor capitalized on Grace slipping on the slick pitch to score a 1v1 less than two minutes after Zeilenga’s goal. The match went into halftime tied 2-2.

For all of the offensive fireworks in the first half, there were zero goals in the second half. The squads combined for 19 shots over the final 45 minutes of regulation. Taylor looked more dangerous in the initial stages of the second half, but the home side swung momentum late and kept pressure on the Trojans’ backline. But a winner was not found in regulation.

The game went to overtime where Taylor netted the golden-goal winner. Grace failed to clear a corner kick, and Taylor made the Lancers pay with a tap-in from close range in the 95th minute.

Grace took 15 shots in the match compared to 17 for Taylor. Weni, Kyle Hamlin, Daniel Smith and Damon Binkley each fired three shots apiece.

Robbie Barnhill had six saves in goal for Grace.