STEUBENVILLE, Ohio—The Barons fell quickly behind to a barrage of early goals, losing 8-1, but anchored by the midfield play of Joe Duran and Jesse Saltarelli, created chances against highly ranked Medaille College.

Franciscan gave up the first goal in the ninth minute.  The Baron defenders were only able to clear the ball to just outside the 18.  Medaille junior midfielder Cory Carter shot the half-volley into the bottom corner of the net beyond the reach of goalkeeper Edward Huber.

Medaille scored less than a minute later when a cross led to an acrobatic headed goal from sophomore forward Junior Geegba over the head of Huber.

Franciscan's best chance came at this point in the game, as the scoreboard was starting to tip toward Medaille.  Sophomore Duran sped down the wing and beat his man to the byline.  He crossed to junior forward John Imbimbo with the goal gaping, but he was unable to get his foot on the ball. 

"If we get Joe wider, we give up his accurate passing in the middle. We try to move Joe around so that teams can't defend us in the same way during the game," head coach Ward Rogers said.

By the time the half was approaching, the score was 5-0.  Franciscan finally earned another chance.  This time they capitalized.  An indirect kick from a yellow card handed out to Medaille gave the Barons an opportunity just outside the 18. Freshman forward Leo Herrmann laid the ball off for senior forward Jesse Saltarelli who struck the ball through the wall and into the far corner of the goal.

"We don't spend an inordinate amount of time on set pieces," Rogers said, "but the guys run them so well.  There's not a lot of indecision."

Halftime allowed Rogers to make a few changes to the team's strategy.  To anchor the midfield he dropped both Imbimbo and Duran deeper into the midfield to provide support.  Duran's accurate passing, Rogers said, helped the Barons break down the Medaille defense a little more effectively.

Rogers said he knew going in to the game that Medaille, who are ranked no. 10 in the Great Lakes region and are also undefeated in conference play, would be a difficult test for the Barons. 

"We had some ideas on how to slow them down, and we did except for a few mistakes," he said.  "We only gave up two goals in the second half."

The second half's most promising chances for Franciscan came off of runs off the wing by Saltarelli.  Consistently he got forward for the Barons but was unable to create any goals in the final 45 minutes.

With four games left, the Barons will continue working to keep their playoff hopes alive in their next game against Hilbert College on Saturday, October 18.