WASHINGTON, Pa. – The Franciscan men's soccer team dropped a tough 5-0 decision to Washington & Jefferson Wednesday afternoon to wrap up the non-conference portion of the schedule.

"You never want to lose and this certainly not how we wanted to end our non-conference schedule, but this game really showed us what we need to work on as we head into conference play," remarked head coach Christian Bobak.

The Presidents took a lead just 19:50 into the first half off an unassisted goal from Christian Payne and the 1-0 score held for the remainder of the opening period. Franciscan had one good opportunity at the net at the end of the first as sophomore Mark Fioramonti put a good ball on goal but W&J goalie Jeremy Stone stopped it to hold on to the lead.

W&J rattled off four more goals in the first 20 minutes of the second half to take a 5-0 lead, one that Franciscan could not chip away at.  

"You never want that many goals scored on you, but we definitely can't blame all of it on our goalies," continued coach Bobak. "Tom and John both got solid minutes for us today and they both really are working hard and pushing each other to be the best goalies they can be."

"Leo James played another great game for us, him and Mark (Fioramonti) and Michael Bobak really stepped up and played some good minutes as well."

The Presidents out-shot the Barons 30-7 and W&J held a 10-3 advantage in corners.

"You don't want to use the excuse of tired legs, but we played three games in six nights and you could see it tonight," remarked coach Bobak. "We are going to rest our legs and get ready for Hilbert on Saturday."

The Barons travel to Buffalo on Saturday to take on Hilbert at 3:15pm.