STEUBENVILLE, Ohio — Marietta College's comeback bid fell short as the Pioneers lost to Franciscan University by the score of 2-1 Wednesday (Sept. 14) evening in men's soccer action. Marietta falls to 1-1-3 overall, while Franciscan improves to 5-0-1 on the season.
"We simply weren't good enough tonight. When you outshoot a team like we did I'd expect some more end results," Marietta head coach
Joe Bergin said. "But unfortunately, they were more clinical around goal and as a result we are saddled with another poor result."
Despite dominating the match statistically, the Pioneers were forced to play from behind. Franciscan grabbed the lead in the 30th minute when Liam Nagle scored off an assist from Nick Miller. Marietta outshot the Barons 12-4 in the first half but trailed 1-0 at halftime.
Six minutes into the second half Franciscan doubled its lead. Nick Cross found the back of the net with an assist from Nagle for a 2-0 Baron lead.
Marietta cut the deficit in half in the 75th minute.
Gavin Chappel (Oakdale, Pa./West Allegheny) fed the ball to
Caden Ferguson (Mars, Pa./Mars Area) for the goal. However, the Pioneers were not able to get the equalizer and lost their first match of the season.
Franciscan's first half goal ended the Pioneers' streak of holding opponents without a goal at 316 minutes. Marietta keeper
Luke Price (Perrysburg, Ohio/Perrysburg) surrendered his first two goals of the season. He played all 90 minutes and recorded three saves.
Jax Mautone had a fantastic night in goal for the Barons. Mautone posted 13 saves in the winning effort.
Marietta plays at Denison University on Friday (Sept. 16) at 7:00 p.m.
Fans can follow all the Pioneer teams all year long at
pioneers.marietta.edu. You can also follow the Pioneers on Facebook at
facebook.com/MariettaCollege and @MariettaPioneer on Twitter and Instagram.
