MOUNT VERNON – Cornell senior Gaurab Khadka scored twice in his final collegiate home match, but the Rams' upset bid was denied by a late Illinois College rally in Tuesday's 4-2 Midwest Conference men's soccer loss.
 
Khadka netted his first two goals of the fall, and in a season of near-misses, the Rams were positioned to spoil Illinois College's MWC title hopes leading 2-1 with less than 10 minutes to go in regulation.
 
Illinois College (12-4-1 overall, 6-1 MWC) evened the match at 2-2 in the 81st minute, and struck twice more in the closing stages to finish the offensive flurry. The Blueboys carded the go-ahead goal with 6:45 left to play. The final score came with 11 seconds remaining.
 
It was a tough ending for the Rams (4-11-1 overall, 2-4-1 MWC), who played with the lead for 66 minutes of the contest. The loss eliminated Cornell from postseason contention with one match left in the regular season.
 
Khadka found the back of the net just five minutes into the match as Cornell grabbed momentum early. After the Blueboys answered, Khadka scored again in the 41st minute off an assist from Jake Elmore that pushed the Rams ahead 2-1.
 
George Archer accounted for five of Cornell's 10 shots on the day. Khadka finished with three attempts.
 
Cornell goalkeeper Jeremy Spina posted five saves in a complete-game effort. The Blueboys fired 17 total shots and held a 7-1 advantage in corner kick chances.
 
Illinois College won for the seventh time in its last eight outings.
 
Coming up – Cornell travels to play league-leading Lake Forest (7-7-3 overall, 6-0-1 MWC) at 11 a.m. Saturday in the season finale.