CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – No. 13 Parkland men's soccer outshot John Wood by a 9-1 margin in the second half, but couldn't't complete the comeback in a 2-1 defeat on Saturday. Freshman Naoto Uede scored the lone goal for the Cobras, as they fell to 7-2-1 on the season while the Blazers improved to 8-2.

"I knew that John Wood was good," said head coach Mark Sikora. "They might call themselves a first-year program, but they're really not when you look at their roster and who's on there. There's quality and they have a good coach, and their results are showing it. So, I have a feeling our guys were too complacent, a little bit over confident. There was awhile there where I thought we might pull this one out of the fire, but it didn't happen. When you give up two relatively soft – what I would consider soft – goals early on, it's a huge hole to get out of."

Parkland fell behind in the opening minute of the match, finding the back of the net with a header 49 seconds into the match. The Blazers doubled the Parkland deficit 20 minutes later when they converted a corner kick for their second goal. John Wood maintained the two-goal advantage into halftime as the Cobras were outshot 6-3 in the opening 45 minutes.

The Cobras changed the momentum early in the second half with three shots on goal in the opening 10 minutes, equaling their total from the first half. Parkland again came within inches of cutting into the lead with a goal by freshman Yu Sasaki called back for offsides in the 57^th minute and then put two more shots on goal in the next five minute off a pair of corner kicks.

Continuing to move guys forward, the Cobras again had another string of opportunities beginning in the 74^th minute with three different players putting shots on frame. However, it was Naoto Uede who was able to break through, finding the back of the net off a pass from freshman Ivai Warella. The goal by Uede is the ninth of the season for the freshman midfielder, tying him with Sasaki for the team lead.

A frantic final five minutes saw Parkland put the ball in the box multiple times, but the Cobras best chance came in the 86^th minute. With the ball in the box, the Cobras twice had near misses, first off a shot by Warella and then off a header from Diarmuid Reilly that hit off the left post.

"We did everything right, we did everything you're supposed to do and brought numbers forward," explained Sikora. "And then, [John Wood] did what they needed to do, they put 11 guys in the box and their keeper was pretty solid. It took that extra moment to break through, and we did, we just ran out of time. I thought if we could get it another one and go to overtime we had the momentum, but that's just the way this game goes. They did exactly what they needed to do with a two-goal lead. They just milked the clock, put 11 guys in front of the goal and just made it really difficult."

The Cobras would have a pair of corner kicks in the closing minute of the match, but were unable to get a shot on goal on either chance.

Up next, the Cobras will play at Lincoln Land College on Wednesday, October 3, at 4 p.m. central time.