Box Score STEUBENVILLE – The Franciscan men's soccer team dominated every part of the field and walked away with a 3-0 victory over Bethany (W. Va.) Saturday afternoon.
The Barons and Bison battled hard over the first 25 minutes of action but neither team could find the back of the net. Bethany had three great scoring opportunities with three corner kicks in those first minutes of play but the Franciscan defense stood firm and cleared the ball each time. The Barons got the first shot on goal off as freshman John Monsour took a hard shot at goal by Bethany keeper, Callum Appleby, turn him away. It was then Thomas Dosedel's turn to turn away a tough shot as he made a save on a quick one-timer form Jay O'Donnell to keep the game 0-0 at 24:39.
Senior Joe Francis broke open the scoring for the Barons just under a minute later with his third goal of the season. Francis collected a pass right inside the box and dribbled through three Bison defenders to strike high to the right and give FUS a 1-0 lead in the 26th minute.
Just over five minutes later, the Bison got a foul called against them just outside their box and junior Leo Herrmann did what he does best and drill the ball hard into the top right hand corner for his eighth goal of the season and gave the Barons a 2-0 cushion at the half. Sophmore Johann Hurst attempted to extend the lead in the waning minutes of the first but Appleby turned him away and the period came to a close 2-0 in favor of FUS.
Herrmann wasted little time coming out in the second half as he scored his team and league leading ninth goal of the young season just four minutes after the half began to give the Barons a 3-0 lead. The junior collected the ball off of a Bison defender and one-timed it past the Bison goalie.
Bethany was only able to get off three more shots in the half and Dosedel stopped two of them to complete the first Baron shutout of the year and his first since his freshman season. The junior needed just three saves for the clean sheet while his counterpart, Appleby also made three saves.
The Barons held the advantage is shots (11-8) while the Bison led in corners, 4-2.
Franciscan returns to the pitch on Monday against Waynesburg at 8pm.
