PITTSBURGH, Pa. – The Franciscan men's soccer team had an upset on their minds, but Penn State Behrend used a pair of second-half goals to come back for a 2-1 win over the Barons as the two teams squared off at Highmark Stadium, Monday afternoon.
The first half was tightly contested but the Barons were able to control most of the pace of play and limited the Lions to just five shots and sophomore keeper Brian Gaughan (Hopkinton, MA/Hopkinton) saved all three that came his way. The Barons were able to get six shots off with the last one finding the back of the net with less than three minutes to play. After a corner kick by freshman Nick Miller (Galena, OH/Olentangy) sent the ball into the box, junior Chip Dougherty(Wexford, Pa./North Allegheny) got his head on the ball and pushed it in the direction of sophomore JP Bobak (Grand Island, NY/Canisius) who had his shot blocked. Junior Ian Baldau (Las Vegas, NV/St. Michael's) was able to corral the rebound and flicked it to sophomore Sebastian Koehler (Ashburn, VA/Seton Home Study). Koehler gave it a touch around the defender and shot it from close range under the diving keeper's hands to give Franciscan a 1-0 lead late in the first.
The Barons came out firing in the second half as Miller had a pair of shots blocked in the first five minutes, but after Koehler's shot was blocked, the Lions took over and Aaron Harris evened the game in the 50th minute. 13 minutes later, Dakota Lange gave the Lions the lead for good after finally collecting a corner kick and bounced the ball over Gaughan's hands.
Bobak got a shot on goal but the Behrend keeper was able to turn him away and Gaughan made two outstanding saves late in the second to keep it a one-goal game, including a kick-save as he was falling away from the shot.
Franciscan couldn't find it's answer however and the upset try came up just short.
The Lions held a slight 12-11 advantage in shots and led in corners, 9-2. Gaughan finished the day with five saves while his Behrend counterpart, Chris Ralph, needed just one save for the win.
The Barons have a short turn around as they host Mt. Aloysius on Wednesday at 3:15.
