Franciscan 7, Thiel 0

Starting XI
Zachary Muldoon, Kolbe Rice, Joseph St. George, Augustine Rubino, Anthony Venditti, Jonathan Schriner, Julien Freeman, Joshua Atkinson, Lucas Cross, Ryan Miller, & Goalkeeper - Aiden Miller  

How It Happened 
    This "contest" was over fairly early. The Barons scored five goals in the first half, in what coach described as "a sloppy first half." That's not to say this game wasn't exciting. The Tomcats didn't just role over as the score may suggest. This was the most chippy game I have seen this season. Every 50/50 ball was contested with pushes and shoves from the opposition. The referee allowed almost all of the physicality go calling very few fouls and handing out no cards. There was a momentary scuffle late in the game when one of the Baron players decided they had enough of the cheap shots, but outside of that instance, every Franciscan athlete maintained their composure and played on. No cries to the official, no jawing at the opponent, just a play-on mentality.
    The usual suspects were responsible for scoring with Ryan Miller netting two goals along with Freeman, and one goal from Cross and Schriner. But, the exciting part was seeing players like Nathan Halberg record an assist, Michael Peppiatt score his first goal, and the story of the night was center-back Joshua Atkinson playing forward. Long-running team joke is how Atkinson has zero career shots on goal. Which playing as the last resort defender at center-back makes a lot of sense. Coach moved him up for the final 20 minutes. Every run he made the entire stadium erupted screaming to get Josh the ball. As the minutes waned, it was looking grim that Josh was going to get his chance. Up seven goals, sportsmanship trumped silly jokes. The Barons played slow possession ball to run out the clock pushing forward when the Tomcats gave it to them. With thirty seconds remaining the Barons played the ball up the field, they sent a long ball up toward the goal. This was Atkinson's final chance. He had been in the game the entire time, but found the energy to push through and past two defenders. It was just a race against the keep to get to the ball. Atkinson beat the keep to the ball by a fraction of a second. Atkinson got his foot on the ball and attempted to take a shot, but the keep was just inches away and swallowed the ball up as he fell on it. A shot's a shot! Atkinson got there first so he earned his first career shot on goal.

Inside the Numbers  
-The defense allowed 0 SOG
-The Barons recorded 5 assists on their 7 goals
-Ryan Miller finished with 4 points (2G, 2A)

Who's Next?
Franciscan will return to action on Wednesday night as they host Grove City. The Wolverines have gotten the better of Franciscan in their last six matchups, as Franciscan is looking to beat Grove City for the first time in 16 years. Back in 2008, Franciscan won 2-1 in a double overtime thriller. Both goals coming off the foot of Associate Head Coach, Zeph Swope. The Wolverines will enter this game with a 4-1 conference mark, as they just beat Westminster 4-2 on Friday evening. 

Men's Soccer Fall ID Camp
Franciscan Men's Soccer is excited to offer an ID camp for aspiring college athletes on Sunday, November 17th. The camp is open to athletes entering 9th-12th grade this Fall. Participants will have the opportunity to receive training from the men's soccer coaching staff as well as interact with current players. Campers will participate in a typical Franciscan training session and gain an understanding of the competitive and challenging environment of collegiate athletics. For more information and to register click here

Stay Connected 
This week's episode of the Franciscan Men's Soccer podcast with Kenny Graff and Juan-Miguel Gonzalez just dropped today. Check out this week's episode down below.

Be sure to follow Franciscan University on YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook for the most in-depth coverage of Franciscan Athletics. For more in-depth coverage of Franciscan men's soccer checkout the Baron Broadcast on the Franciscan Men's Soccer Youtube Channel. You can view their most recent episode down below.