ALTOONA, Pa.—Franciscan University men's soccer took a step back in their game against Penn St.-Altoona, suffering a 6-0 loss.

The team started out the night with an enthusiasm left over from Saturday's win, but offensive turnovers in the twenty-eighth and thirtieth minutes resulted in two quick goals for the Lions, which left the Barons trying to regain the advantage.

"When our defense pushes up to support the attack, they become vulnerable to a counterattack," head coach Ward Rogers said, "We turned the ball over, the other team played the long ball quickly up the field, and that put us in a man vs. man position. It was individual effort on their part."

The second half saw the Barons pressing forward on offense in an attempt to put more shots on goal. Although, at times, the offense tried to force play development too quickly and was unable to score, the men maintained composure and continued to improve.

"We had some really nice play going forward and we had a couple of chances to score; their goalkeeper made a couple of really nice saves. In all these cases, we built the play very well but couldn't get the final pass to make the shot on goal," Rogers said.

Bright spots in the Baron offense were seen in effective midfield play by Brian Bobak and Bill Milburn on the wings to develop the backside of the offense. Their passing opened up opportunities for several shot attempts by center forward Peter Herrmann. Rogers said that forward Blake Bonilla also played a good game.

In spite of frustration on the defensive end, Franciscan goalies Christopher McNamara and Edward Huber held strong, stopping ten goals between them. Rogers noted that their efforts kept the Barons in the game early on.

"Overall, despite the score, the guys really stayed in the game. They never got to the point where they weren't trying to score. Sometimes when you're really trying to score it leaves you vulnerable on the defensive side of the game, but we really never quit, we were just trying as hard as we could to get goals," Rogers said.

He added that if the team wants to be competitive in this upcoming Saturday's game it will need to work on its one-on-one defending.

"If we continue to develop our offensive movement the way we have been, we have a good chance to win," Rogers said.

The Barons will travel to take on the University of Pitt-Bradford in Bradford this Saturday, October 20. The game is scheduled to begin at 3pm.