EVANSTON, Ill. - Senior Phil Duret's late goal was not enough as the Western Illinois men's soccer team dropped a 2-1 decision to No. 12 Northwestern at Lakeside Field.

The Leathernecks (5-9-3) fell behind of the Wildcats (11-3-2) in the 25th minute on David Roth's diving header to the back post, out of the reach of sophomore goalkeeper Stephen Paterson (Thunder Bay, Ontario/Sir Winston Churchill). Western looked to answer back quickly, but the lone shot of the game for Martin Browne, Jr. (Brooklyn Park, Minn./Osseo), was stopped by Justin Pines. Northwestern took the 1-0 lead into the break.

"They got the one early, we didn't, and that proved to be the difference in the game," said Western Illinois men's soccer coach Dr. Eric Johnson. "They're good in the back and we struggled to get the ball past them. You can tell why they are ranked nationally."

Early in the second half, the Wildcats got a scoring opportunity on a header in the 51st minute, but the defense of the Leathernecks was able to clear the ball out for a save. Neither team was able to get another shot on goal for over the next 30 minutes.

Northwestern made it a 2-0 lead in the 88th minute off a header from Eamon O'Neill. Western would cut the deficit back to one with just 30 seconds to play. Duret (Sarasota, Fla./Cardinal Mooney) drilled a shot from 25-yards out off a free kick from Nikola Katic (Mikarska, Croatia/Illinois Central College). It was Duret's first career goal.

"Phil hit an absolute bomb, that shot was a rocket," added Johnson. "It was a great goal by Phil on a good pass from Nikola. I thought we created some opportunities. We created enough shots but didn't put them on frame. There was a couple times that if we made a better pass on the last one, we would have had a scoring chance."

Statistically, the Leathernecks kept the game extremely close, with both squads fired 11 total shots. The Wildcats held a slight 4-3 edge in shots on goal. The only major difference came on corner kicks, where Northwestern dominated 8-1.

"Overall it was a pretty good outing and I thought that we raised our level today," stated Johnson of the effort. "This was a high level to compete at, and the stats show that it was a fairly even game, other than the fact that their chances were a little better than ours. If we can bring this kind of effort and play this well in our next two conference games, we will have a chance to win them. I am very pleased with the effort today and the level of soccer that we brought to the field."

Western returns to Summit League play Saturday, when they travel to Fort Wayne, Ind. for a matchup with IPFW at 1 p.m.