ERIE, Pa. – In a tightly contested defensive battle, the Franciscan men's soccer team fell to Penn St.-Behrend by a slim 1-0 margin, Saturday afternoon.

The Lions got off the first two shots on the afternoon before Franciscan's offense took over. Freshman Sebastian Koehler and senior Leo Herrmann got a pair of shots off and a corner kick by freshman JP Bobak gave the Barons early scoring chances, but Franciscan couldn't put the ball away. After a slew of substitutions for both teams, the Barons were awarded another corner kick with less than 15 minutes to play. Bobak put the ball perfectly in the middle of the box and sophomore Ian Baldau got a shot off but Lion keeper Chris Ralph made the first save of the game to keep the game scoreless.

It took 13 minutes before the next shot of the game, this time it was Penn St.-Behrend that had a scoring chance, but senior keeper Thomas Dosedel made his only save on the day with 1:53 left in the first half to keep the Lions off of the board. With 37 seconds left in the half, Penn St.-Behrend was driving towards the goal but the play was called dead as a Lion was caught offsides and the half came to an end, 0-0.

After the break, Koehler and Baldau got the first two shots off but both were off target. The Lions were awarded two-straight corners before Bobak took the Barons' third corner of the game with 25 minutes to play. Herrmann got his head on the ball off of the corner, but his shot squeaked just past the goal post and the game remained tied. The Lions appeared to put the first goal of the game in the net five minutes later, but the play was called back as the Lions were offside and the goal came off of the board.

Two straight Baron shots followed by a corner and quick offside from the Lions provided some excitement but neither team could get the ball past the goalie. Herrmann put a rocket on the net, but Ralph got his hands on the ball for his second save of the game. Penn St.-Behrend had shot blocked and another offside before the Lions' Matt Baleno's shot went wide.   

After another slew of subs for both teams, Richard Blanchard got a quick one-touch pass from Josh Kolarac and rocketed it home from 25 yards out for the game's only goal and the 1-0 lead for PSB with 10:03 left in regulation.

The Barons had a pair of corner kicks and a shot from Bobak that went just barely wide in the last three minutes trying to tie the game but Franciscan couldn't find the back of the net and the score held 1-0 in favor of the Lions.

The Barons out-shot the Lions 9-8 while Penn St.-Behrend held a 7-5 advantage in corner kicks. Herrmann led the Barons with three shots, while Baldau, Koehler and Bobak each had two.

Franciscan looks to get back in the winning column as the Barons host Penn St.-Altoona on Wednesday for their final regular season home game at 2pm.