STEUBENVILLE, Ohio – Franciscan University women's soccer came out slow in a surprising 1-0 loss to the University of Pitt – Greensburg. The game was the Lady Barons second conference match of the season and came just days after pushing defending conference champion, Penn St. – Behrend into overtime.

"I think we started to get a little comfortable and I think we start to assume that it was just always going to turn out well," Head Coach Clare McBane said about her team during the game. "I also think we took this team for granted."

Franciscan's slow start, particularly in the first 25 minutes of the game, lead to the Lady Baron's being out-shot 11 to 10 in the first half and also lead to the only goal of the game. The goal came in the twenty-fifth minute when a Lady Bobcat found her forward making a center run that split the two Franciscan center backs and led to a strong shot past the FUS keeper.

After the goal Franciscan stepped up their game but despite outshooting Pitt-Greensburg 13-5 in the second half, the Lady Barons couldn't find an equalizer.

"They had a very athletic defense," McBane said. "The balls that we did play through were just not on par. They were either too slow or too far and we couldn't get those penetrating passes correct."

While the offense looked frustrated at times, the FUS attack never tired. They came excruciatingly close to equalizing goals a number of times, including a bouncing ball in traffic that skirted the goal line in the air before being cleared out and a shot from junior midfielder Ashley Ruttencutter that hit off the crossbar.

While the loss brings Franciscan to 0-2 in conference play, the Lady Barons are keeping their focus on making the AMCC playoffs. Their next challenge comes on the road against Medaille College on October 5.

"We will be working on fitness, because of the increased speed of play on Medaille's turf field and we'll be working on our first touch," McBane said of how her team will prepare for the Mavericks.