JOLIET, Ill. -- In a match that saw near matching numbers across the board, the University of St. Francis men's soccer team came up short in a 2-0 loss to St. Ambrose University (Iowa) on Wednesday night.  The Fighting Bee offense scored one goal in the first half and one in the second, blanking the Fighting Saints and pushing USF's overall record to 0-5-1.  In a chippy Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference matchup between the two teams that saw 49 fouls and three ejections, the loss also moves the Fighting Saints to 0-1 in CCAC action.

First Half
St. Francis won possession early in the match and used its speed to its advantage as the Saints put up the first four shots of the frame before the 10-minute mark.  St. Ambrose (8-1, 1-0 CCAC) adjusted to the Saints' heavy offensive pressure by applying some of its own over the next 20 minutes, eventually drawing a St. Francis foul in the box that resulted in a successful penalty kick opportunity at the 31:18 mark.  Down 1-0, the Saints would continue to press and registered three more shots before the intermission, but solid defense from the SAU backline resulted in the score staying locked at 1-0 at the break.

Second Half 
The second half saw a swing of offensive attacks from both sides.  St. Francis fired first with an early attempt from junior Benisio Gamino, but St. Ambrose would respond with four shots of their own in the following 19 minutes, all coming up empty.  Needing to catch back up quickly, the Saints desperately tried to cut down their 0-1 deficit with a string of four straight shot attempts between the 69th and 76th minutes in an effort to find the equalizer, but the SAU defense held strong during the attack to shut the door on the Saints.  The Bees retaliated the remainder of the match by putting pressure on the USF defense with six subsequent shots before Gus Stevens found Hunter Lillie, who netted the second goal of the match at the 88:40 mark to finalize the score at 2-0.

The match saw balanced numbers across the board between the two squads, with each team authoring 14 shots and four corner kicks apiece.  St. Ambrose registered five of its shots on-goal, while St. Francis recorded four and was led by Mason Mroz, whose two attempts were both on-target.  In the net, USF keeper Elio Di Gennaro made three saves, while SAU keeper Dawson Yegge took credit for four.

Up Next
St. Francis will be back on the road Saturday afternoon (Sept. 27) in Bourbonnais, Ill. to take on Olivet Nazarene University at 4 pm in the Snowbarger Athletic Complex.

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