STEUBENVILLE – The Franciscan University Baron Soccer team suffered its first Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference loss of the season in a heartbreaking 2-1 overtime loss against La Roche College Thursday night. The Barons stand 1-7-1 overall on the season and 1-1-1 in the AMCC.

"I do not think the score is an accurate reflection," said head coach Johann Marin. "But they wanted it more and fought harder for the win. We came in expecting to win, and we obviously didn't get it, which is very disappointing for us."

La Roche struck first when Luke Wagner kicked a shot that deflected off a Franciscan defender, bouncing out of the reach of goalkeeper David Almeida to give the Red Hawks the lead. Franciscan responded a minute later when senior Chris Loisel scored his first collegiate career goal with a soaring shot 25 yards outside the box. Loisel's goal tied the game 1-1 for the half.

Both teams came out aggressively for the second half, totaling 17 fouls but with neither team pulling ahead. Almeida preserved the 1-1 tie with a penalty kick save, pushing the match into overtime.

Franciscan had a few scoring opportunities early in overtime, but could not capitalize. With four minutes left, Red Hawk Robert Fraino sent his free throw to Adam Minnaugh, whose header into the net gave La Roche the 2-1 win.

"We will play better than this next time," said Marin. "We are playing [Penn State] Behrend on Saturday and we will be playing for a win."

The Barons face Penn State Behrend on their home field this Saturday. Game time is set for 3:00 p.m