KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The Western Illinois men's soccer team lost its Summit League opener to UMKC in double-overtime, Saturday, Oct. 3.

The Fighting Leathernecks (2-6-0, 0-1-0 Summit League) held the Kangaroos (3-5-1, 1-0-1 Summit League) scoreless until Bryan Perez scored in the 107th minute of the match to give UMKC the 1-0 victory.

Perez scored when Chris Markey sent a ball over the defense and in to the box, where Perez headed the ball into the lower righthand corner of the net for his school-record 22nd career goal.

"UMKC is a really good team," Western Illinois head coach Dr. Eric Johnson said. "They got a nice goal from a really good player and unfortunately it was an overtime situation so the one score was all they needed."

The Leathernecks had a chance to take the lead in the 87th minute, but a header by Nathan Sanchez was stopped by UMKC goalkeeper Ken Cooper.

"I thought overall we played a great game," Johnson said. "It was a really exciting league match. We had a really good, positive effort and it was tough to lose in overtime but that's just how soccer is. I'm really proud of the way we played."

Western had allowed 10 goals in its previous four matches, but the Leatherneck defense stifled UMKC until the second overtime.

"I thought our defense played really well today," Johnson said. "I think guys like Oskar Gasecki, Kooten Johnson, Noah Suter and Diego Zamudio played a really solid game defensively and they (UMKC) just made a nice play to get the win."

Leatherneck goalkeeper Stephen Paterson made nine saves in the match, including four overtime saves.

"I thought Stephen had a really good game tonight, he kept us in it with the way he played," Johnson said. "We just couldn't find the net and reward him for his hard work tonight."

The Kangaroos outshot Western by a 24 to 20 margin, including a 10 to five advantage in shots on goal. UMKC also led the match with nine corners to the Leathernecks seven and committed more fouls by an 11 to 10 margin.

"We just need to move forward and put this one behind us," Johnson said. "We are getting better every game which is great but we need to stay focused with some tough matches coming up."

Western Illinois will return home for a 3 p.m. match against Drake, Wednesday, Oct. 7 before hosting Summit League foe IUPUI at 1 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 10.