JOLIET, Ill. -- The University of St. Francis men's soccer team came up short in an 8-1 loss to St. Ambrose University on Tuesday night. It marked the sixth Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference loss of the season for the Fighting Saints and dropped their overall record to 4-7-2 on the year. In league play, the team fell to 0-6-2.
First Half
St. Ambrose (1-8-3, 1-5-1 CCAC) started the match aggressively, controlling possession for the majority of the first 20 minutes. On their seventh shot attempt of the half, the Fighting Bees were able to connect for their first goal of the night in the 22nd minute on an assisted scoring strike from Joe Campbell to Sam Flello. St. Francis replied with a goal in the 26th minute when graduate senior
Victor Sellu was able to provide the assist for USF's first score, which was authored by midfielder
Jesus Flores to even the match at 1-1. SAU responded with two quick goals of its own in the following three minutes, pushing the ball past USF keeper
Nicholas Di Sandro to up the score to 3-1 in the visitors' favor. The Fighting Bees stung the Saints one more time before the first-half horn sounded with a goal in the 42nd minute to head into the locker room with a 4-1 halftime lead.
Second Half
Play remained in St. Ambrose's possession the majority of the second half, as well. At the 48:55 mark, SAU's Joe Campbell was able to score a goal of his own, finding the back of the USF net off an assist from David Sanchez-Teba to give the Bees a major advantage on the scoreboard at 5-1. Their lead would grow from there with SAU putting up three more goals over the remaining 42 minutes to advance the score to a final showing of 8-1.
For the match, the Saints were outshot by the Bees 26-12, with only three of their attempts registered as on-target.
Tony Njia (one on-target) and Flores (two) led USF with three shots apiece, while
Edward Luna and Sellu chipped in two. Di Sandro collected six saves during his 90 minutes in the net.
Up Next
St. Francis will travel to La Crosse, Wis. to face-off against Viterbo University in a CCAC matchup on Saturday, Oct. 26. The match will begin at 3:30 pm at the Viterbo Outdoors Athletic Complex.
You can keep up with everything happening around USF Athletics on X @USFSaints.
