JOLIET, Ill. --- A handful of opportunities in the closing 25 minutes of its Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference showdown with first-place Olivet Nazarene University came up empty, leaving the University of St. Francis women's soccer team with a tough 1-0 setback on Tuesday night at Joliet Memorial Stadium.

The loss was the first of the season in six matches on the pitch at Busey Bank Field (4-1-1) for the Saints, who were vying for a shot at the top spot in the league standings with a win.

Olivet Nazarene (7-3-1, 6-0-1 CCAC) accounted for five of the six shots on goal in the first half with the Tigers' last attempt just 79 seconds before the break finding the back of the net.  The goal came just after a corner kick, where Sara Loichinger found an open Kaylee Evers, who pushed a shot from 16 yards out just to the right of a diving Krystal Rodriguez.

The story in the second half was the exact opposite with USF (8-3-1, 4-2-1) having the most chances to at least force a tie.  The Saints accounted for four of the six shots on goal after the break.

Three of those came after the 65th minute starting with Alexis Marroquin's attempt from the left side that was followed by Litzy Mendez's shot on the rebound.  The latter attempt was blocked just in front of the net.

Mia Ocana then looked to knot the score at one-all in the 72nd minute when her corner kick slipped through the hands of goalkeeper Jaici Wright, but was ruled that it did not cross the goal line before being kicked away by an Olivet Nazarene defender.

USF's final attempt came just 83 seconds before the end of the contest when Mendez was denied at point blank range in front of the net by Wright.

Wright, who came on for an injured Tessa Kowalski, accounted for all six saves for Olivet Nazarene.  Rodriguez, who allowed just her third goal in the last seven contests, recorded six saves for the Saints.

For the game, Olivet Nazarene totaled one more shot than USF, 14-13, including two more on goal, 7-5.

Allison Schaar accounted for five of the Saints' 13 shots with Mendez totaling three.

St. Francis had eight of the 14 corner kicks.

Notes: Rodriguez remained among the leaders in the league with her effort on Tuesday night.  She currently holds down the No. 2 spot in both save percentage (.838) and goals-against average (0.93), while ranking tied for third in goals allowed with 11 … The shutout marked just the third time this season that the Saints went scoreless in a game … USF is on the road Saturday to face St. Ambrose University in Davenport, Iowa beginning at 1 pm.  

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