Senior forward Andy Bush netted his fifth goal of the season, but it wasn't enough, as the Misericordia University men's soccer team fell to Scranton, 3-1, Wednesday night at Mangelsdorf Field.
 
The Cougars found themselves in an early hole, as the Royals' Bill McGuiness took advantage of a poorly cleared ball and outran the Cougar defense to score his team-best sixth goal of the season in the 24^th minute.
 
“That first goal was a little unlucky,” said MU head coach Chuck Edkins. “We've got to do a better job of clearing that ball.”
 
The score would remain 1-0 until the 68^th minute, when Kevin Kozic poked in a goal off a corner from Rich Loeffler, extending the Royals lead.
 
Bush closed the deficit back to one goal in the 76^th minute, taking a ball from teammate and fellow co-captain Greg Korhonen and putting it past Scranton keeper James Dillon.
 
The Cougars had several opportunities late in the game and looked poised to score the equalizer. However, Scranton sealed the victory in the 86^th minute, when Colin McFadden scored on a pass from McGuiness.
 
“We made a couple of young mistakes tonight,” said Edkins. “They took advantage of those mistakes.”
 
Freshman Barry Fitzgerald made five saves in goal in his first start.
 
After starting the season 3-0, the Cougars have now dropped four straight to fall to 3-4.
 
“We're missing something,” said Edkins. “Whatever that intangible is right now, we're missing it. It's a little vanilla, and I've got to figure out how to fix that.”
 
The Cougars have a quick turn around, traveling to Baptist Bible tomorrow before facing Elizabethtown on Saturday.
 
“There's no time to hang our heads,” Edkins concluded. “We've got to be ready to go out and play tomorrow. And honestly, to play is the best thing for our guys right now.”