JOLIET, Ill. -- The University of St. Francis men's soccer team continued its second-half-of-the-season surge Saturday afternoon when the Fighting Saints secured a 2-1 victory over last season's Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference regular season champions Governors State University on Saturday afternoon on Busey Bank Field at Joliet Memorial Stadium.

The 2-1 win was the second in a row for the Fighting Saints and improved their league record to 2-2 on the season.  Overall, USF is 2-6-1.

First Half
St. Francis was successful on the match's first shot attempt of the contest in the 12th when Bruno Silva took a free kick from the left side of the field at 14 yards out.  Silva fed the ball across the middle of the box where a sliding Jack Browne redirected the ball into the far right corner of the GSU goal to give the Saints the 1-0 lead.  The teams would trade shot attempts over the final 33 minutes of the frame, with the Jaguars' best look coming at the 37:34 mark.  Breaking free, GSU forward Marton Borombos found himself with an open opportunity to author the equalizer, but a strong shot attempt was halted by a diving Elio Di Gennaro to spoil the try and lock the score at 1-0 in USF's favor at the halftime break.

Second Half
Governors State (2-9-1, 1-2-1 CCAC) picked up its attack after the break, authoring the first two shots in the closing 45 minutes of play.  Shortly thereafter, Browne played a key role again in the Saints' second goal.  Following his steal of a ball at midfield, Browne launched a 30-yard kick to lead Juan Jimenez to his second goal of the season which put the Saints up 2-0 at the 50-minute mark.  Neither team would get a shot off over the next 21 minutes until Governors State went on an offensive attack, recording each of the match's next six shots.  The Jaguars would succeed on their sixth try and cut their deficit in half when Joan Gallardo's secondary shot got past Di Gennaro after the junior keeper made a save on Gallardo's first try at 80:43.  The game did not end without dramatics as the guests had one last chance to tie the game in the closing minute with a corner kick with 52 seconds to go.  USF's defense would hold strong, however, resulting in the cross being cleared and the match to end with a final score of 2-1.

Governors State wound up besting the Saints in total shot attempts (14-9) on the day, including 9-5 in the closing half, but Di Gennaro was there to save the day.  The keeper would record four saves on the afternoon, three of which came after the intermission.

Up Next
USF returns to action on Oct. 8 when it travels to Palos Heights, Ill. to take on Trinity Christian College.  Opening kickoff against the Trolls is scheduled for 3 pm in the Schaaf Athletic Complex.

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