Men's Soccer Falls Short at Aquinas

(Grand Rapids, MI)-- The Cleary Cougar men's soccer team hit the road to the west side of the state, and came up short in a WHAC matchup with the Aquinas College Saints Saturday afternoon in Grand Rapids.

The Saints would score twice in the first half, and added another goal in the second half to take a 3-0 lead over Cleary. The Cougars would suffer a major setback when both goalie Austin Freemire and Liam Coyle took red cards in the game, forcing Cleary to play two men down for the final 30 or so minutes.

Cleary would get a goal on a penalty kick.  Thomas Kanouna drew the penalty after getting behind the Saints back line, and Diego Aguirre stepped and calmly put the ball into the back of the net with 2:01 remaining.  Unfortunately, that would be too little time for the Cougars, and the Saints held on to win by the 3-1 score.

Austin Freemire would take the loss in goal, allowing 2 goals while making 4 saves.  Joey Branicki made 7 saves in relief.  Cleary was outshot 29-9 in the game (14-3 on target).  The Saints also held an 8-2 advantage on corner kicks.

Cleary drops to 5-8-3 overall, 2-5-2 in the WHAC.  The Cougars will remain on the road on Wednesday, October 25, when they travel to Toledo to take on the Lourdes Gray Wolves in a WHAC matchup.  Kickoff is scheduled for 7:00 PM ET.