KINGS POINT, N.Y. - The Purchase College men's soccer team closed out the 2022 season with a 2-1 loss at the United States Merchant Marine Academy Tuesday night.

The result was a stunner, as the Panthers rallied late to tie the game at 1-1 in the 81st minute, before the Mariners produced the game winner less than a minute later in the 82nd.

Before the late flurry kicked in though, the early portion of the game was relatively calm. The first half saw no one light up the scoreboard, as two sides remained even at 0-0.

That changed five minutes into the second half when Connor Damare scored the first of the day for Merchant Marine.

However, it then took another 30 minutes before a second goal was struck, this time coming from Purchase.

For the Panthers, Liam George (SO/Brooklyn, NY) was the momentary hero as his strike from distance shocked the hosts.

After collecting the ball outside of the penalty box, he turned and fired quickly, burying the chance into the top right corner of goal from well over 30-yards out.

With the goal, the guests tied the contest with 9:48 remaining in the game and set the stage for what many thought would be a tense fight.

However, the tie score only lasted 59 seconds, as USMMA immediately came back and found the back of the net off one of the longest throw in's I've ever witnessed.

For the hosts, Derek Vanasse suddenly turned into Patrick Mahomes on his throw in chance, and found Bill Castoro waiting in front of goal.

Castoro placed a good-not-great hit on the ball, leaving Purchase's keeper, Travis Stella (SO/Waterbury, NY) a chance to parry it away.

Sadly for the guests, Stella wasn't able to get enough on it, and it recoiled off his hand into the net.

With the goal and the lead once again, the Mariners shored up their defenses to secure the 2-1 win and clinched a home playoff game in the Skyline Conference playoffs.

In total, Merchant Marine (9-4-5 and 6-1-4 Skyline) outshot Purchase, 17-6 overall and 8-4 on goal.

In goal, Stella finished with six saves for the Orange and Blue, while George finished with a team-high two shots. 

With the result, the Panthers finished the year 7-10 overall and 3-8 in the Skyline Conference. The records are vast improvements over last year's marks of 4-9-2 and 1-8-2, respectively. 

The men's soccer team will now have the rest of the year off, before returning to action next fall.