STEUBENVILLE, Ohio—Ball control, timely defense, and a critical save from freshman goalkeeper Thomas Dosedel gave the Barons their second shut-out of the season in a 1-0 victory over D'Youville College on a gusty day in Steubenville. 

Coming off a string of losses that ended their playoff hopes, the Barons were looking for a fast start against their opponents and they were able to attack the defensively minded D'Youville Spartans repeatedly during the opening stretch of the game. 

The Barons' persistence led to nine first half shots to D'Youville's five.  The Barons also had five corner kicks in the first half, with the single goal coming off one of those corners.

Sophomore midfielder Joe Duran's corner found junior forward John Imbimbo at the far post, who passed the ball back into the middle of the box to freshman forward Leo Herrmann.  Herrmann managed to get just enough on the shot in a tight space to have it deflect off a D'Youville player and into the top corner of the goal. 

With the early one-goal advantage, the Barons pushed for more but remained disciplined on defense.

"We always do well when we score first and sometimes we create the opportunities to score first and we don't finish.  So, then we start pressing," said head coach Ward Rogers. "Today, we stayed patient."

The second half was played on more even terms as the howling wind blew toward the Franciscan goal and goalkeeper Dosedel.  D'Youville began to play more long balls over the top to try and catch the Barons on a defensive error.

"When they won the ball, they were playing long right away to try and get us on the break," Rogers said.

One long ball managed to beat the Baron defense with 20 minutes to go in the second half.  The D'Youville player beat the offside trap and was one-on-one with goalkeeper Dosedel.  Dosedel cut down the angle and leg-saved the D'Youville near-post shot wide, in what may have been a critical point in the match. 

"Tom took away the middle of the net and the far post and forced the player to shoot toward a smaller area."

For the last fifteen minutes, the Barons attempted to maintain control of the ball and push it into the attacking third to prevent those dangerous long balls. 

D'Youville had one more chance to tie the game on a counter after regaining possession.  A cross looked like it was going to be headed in by a D'Youville player, but freshman left back Dominic Vanderwoude rose up and denied the chance with a powerful headed clearance.

While these heroic plays prevented goals, Rogers emphasized that the reason that the Barons' maintained their clean sheet was that they consistently defended well and made plays.

"We would make those plays earlier in the season, but five minutes later we would make a mistake that would cost us a goal," he said. "Today, we played a 90-minute complete game."

The entire team, Rogers said, maintained their defensive discipline and quality midfield play throughout the game.

The Barons will finish their season on Tuesday, Oct. 28, at home against La Roche College.