The Covenant men's soccer team saw its season come to an end on Friday afternoon with a 3-0 loss to No. 1 East seed North Carolina Wesleyan in the semifinal round of the USA South Tournament at Scalf Field.
Covenant ends the year with a 9-12-1 overall record. N.C. Wesleyan (14-5) moves on to the USA South championship round on Saturday against the winner of No. 2 East seed Greensboro and No. 1 West seed Maryville.
The host Battling Bishops, who defeated the Scots earlier this year on Lookout Mountain, scored twice in the first half to take a 2-0 lead into the break. Baboucarr Njie tallied the eventual game-winner in the 28th minute, his 10th goal of the season, in the 28th minute to give N.C. Wesleyan a 1-0 lead. Ignacio Lerech made it 2-0 in the 43rd minute as the Bishops capitalized on another opportunity and built their lead to two goals.
In the second half, Lucas Menzo provided an insurance goal for the Bishops in the 75th minute to make it 3-0.
Covenant could only produce six shots on the afternoon as N.C. Wesleyan held a 15-6 shot advantage. None of the Scots' six shots were on target, as N.C. Wesleyan keeper Jordan Williams picked up the shutout. Josh Brower led Covenant with two attempts, including one that went high of the target, while Matt Morefield, Carl Simakoff, Josiah McDaniel and Parker Owen had one shot each.
Jonathan Crossman made five saves at the net for the Scots in his 90 minutes of work. The senior ends the year with 101 saves.