The Strikers made the short trip to Eau Claire for a mid-week clash with near perfect weather and great field conditions.

The Strikers came out of the gates strong and Peyton made a strong run down the left hand side, playing the ball into the box where the Strikers were denied three times by a solid EC defense before Gaige was able to poke home and give the Strikers a 1-0 lead in the third minute.

The next few minutes saw EC possess much of the ball with the Strikers trying to keep the ball out of their area.  The ball was finally moved to the right hand side where Seth was pushing up field when he was fouled and went down landing a bit awkwardly on his right arm.  Seth could not continue, and we found out that his wrist was broken after his parents took him to get checked out.

In the 19th minute, Miles played a ball into space through the defense and Brody sprinted to the ball before being taken down in the box.  Miles stepped up and finished the penalty putting the Strikers up 2-0.

In the 25th minute the Strikers were pushing up, but turned the ball over in the center of the field and EC sprang a quick counter attack, with the Strikers defense not ready the EC player went 1-1 with Mitchell and scored making the score 2-1.

EC kept the momentum and were able to win a corner kick in the closing moments of the first half.  On the last kick of the half, the EC player sent the ball into the 6 yard box where a player was able to tap home from close range to tie the game as the referee blew the whistle with the game tied 2-2.

The second half started evenly, with EC looking much more aggressive and the Strikers looking very tenative being pulled out of position and not closing down the ball.  Jackson S moved into goal and was immediately put under pressure a few times with EC coming close to scoring.

In the 41st minute, EC finally made the Strikers pay for not clearing their lines, scoring a goal to make it 3-2 in favor of EC.

The Strikers kept playing hard and trying to get back into the game.  In the 54th minute, Miles got the ball and the left side and lifted a ball over the EC defense with Gaige running onto it, juking the keeper and poking home inside the six to tie the game at 3-3.

Once again in the closing moments of the half, the Strikers were unable to clear the ball, as they watched the ball on the ground just outside the six yard box and EC would make them pay again, scoring the deciding goal with only 60 seconds left on the clock.

In a physical battle, the Strikers played well, but their defensive effort was not quite enough to get the win.