Franciscan 1, Geneva 0

Franciscan Starters 
Chris St. George, Mikey Irvin, Sebastian Koehler, Jonathan Schriner, Ryan Miller, Joshua Atkinson, Nick Miller, Joseph St. George, Liam Nagle, Josh Kyle, & Goalkeeper - Jax Mautone  

Geneva Starters
Sambuco, Wenger, Seip, Rudloff, Kerr, Yoder, Abdel-Nabi, Sauer, Finnegan, Gelsinger & Goalkeeper -Kemp

How It Happened 
    Franciscan Men's Soccer improved to 3-0 in Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) play with a win over Geneva on Tuesday night. Franciscan's game plan tonight seemed to be, take it slow and wear them down. The ball moved slowly from out of the defensive zone, and the Baron defenders were content working the ball across the field multiple times before picking their spot to push forward. Nick Miller had a beautiful chance from 5yds beyond the left corner of the penalty box, but the keeper was just able to get his hands on the ball and punch it over the crossbar. After 45 minutes of very physical play the game would go into halftime tied 0-0.
    The second half would see far more action. Franciscan picked up their pace and looked to push the ball more aggressively. In the 69th minute, Sebastian Koehler beat two defenders and fired a shot toward the top right of the goal. Geneva's Kemp punched it over the cross bar, resulting in a Franciscan corner kick. Nick Miller took the corner kick, and dropped the high crossing kick to the middle of the goal, where Liam Nagle was there to head the ball toward the net. His header went right at JP Bobak who was able to muscle the ball past a defender and the goalkeeper, putting the Barons up 1-0. As each minute went on, the pace and physicality of the game picked up. In the 79th minute, Liam Nagle attempted to control a high ball, he fell to the ground and thought he was getting a free kick off a Geneva foul. To his surprise, the official awarded a free kick to Geneva. After slowly getting up, Nagle turned back toward where the ball was placed and began to count out the required 10 yds with his steps. The official didn't like how long he took to get up and walk away, so he gave Nagle a yellow card for time wasting. After gaining control from that free kick, the Barons found an opening and Koehler pushed past midfield. His defender, who was beat behind him, grabbed his jersey and pulled to prevent Koehler from advancing and potentially scoring another goal. The intentional foul would be called a yellow card. With only six minutes remaining on the clock, Koehler possessed the ball deep in Geneva's zone in the left corner. Koehler used good body positioning to guard the ball and ward off defenders. A frustrated Geneva defender would aggressively push Kohler off the ball, in an attempt to gain control. The ref called a yellow card on the Geneva defender. Geneva would get one last look at tying the game. With only seconds remaining, Franciscan's Koehler would foul Geneva in the midfield. The resulting free kick would be the last play before time expired. Geneva kick a high ball toward the right side of the goal. With many players fighting to get a head on the ball, goalkeeper Jax Mautone punched the ball out of harms way toward the corner. The Barons then cleared the ball out of the defensive zone, and before Geneva could coral it, time expired and Barons won 1-0.
    After the team finished celebrating, Coach Ridenour had this to say about his team and their opponent, "I'm super proud of everyone tonight...Geneva is a very good team, with a tradition, and it is a great step forward for us s a program to be able to beat a team of their caliber. Jax had a great game in goal for us and the backs in front of him played well also".

Inside the Numbers  
-JP Bobak scored his third goal of the season.
- Nick Miller had one assist and three shots on goal.
- Liam Nagle had an assist, but he picked up his third yellow card of the season. 
- Jax Mautone played ninety minutes and had four saves while in goal for Franciscan.
- Franciscan is one of three unbeaten teams in the PAC, joining Westminster and Grove City with no losses thus far. 

Who's Next? 
Franciscan will have a couple days to prepare for Saint Vincent, who comes into Steubenville on Saturday. The Barons are 1-5 all-time against the Bearcats, but their lone win came the last time they played in Steubenville. That game was back in 2013. The Barons were trailing 3-1 with 30 minutes left in the game. Joseph Duran scored a pair of goals to tie it up at 3-3. Then with three minutes left, Duran found teammate John Imbimbo for the game-winning goal. Last season in their first matchup as conference foes, the Bearcats came out on top by a score of 2-1. 

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