Box Score The Misericordia University men's soccer team lost a hard fought battle to #1 Messiah College on Saturday afternoon at Mangelsdorf Field.
 
Raul Serrano, Jack Thompson and Colby Thomas had the goals for the Falcons while Jeremy Payne had the game's lone assist.
 
Serrano and Thompson notched first half goals while Thomas had the lone goal of the second half. 

Despite falling to the top ranked team in the country, the Cougars did have a flurry of chances early in the second half.
 
The Cougars first shot, and first scoring chance, came when Dante Ippolito sent a corner kick into the box and Kevin Matlon came soaring in and headed it towards the net. However, Brandon West made the save to keep the Falcons lead at 2-0 with 36 minutes left to play.
 
Niko Amity had a great chance just one minute later, but his laser of a shot from 20 yards out sailed just wide of the net.
 
Matlon also made a great defensive play with just 20 minutes left, clearing a ball that was headed for the net.
 
David Malaquias and Matt Norcini also had scoring chances with hard shots towards the net from 25 yards out, but the West made leaping saves to keep the Falcons advantage at 3-0. Both shots resulted in MU corners.
 
Barry Fitzgerald played a solid game in goal for the Cougars, collecting seven saves. His best save of the afternoon came on a full extension dive to his left to save a hard shot from just outside the box with just over 15 minutes to play.
 
With the loss MU falls to 5-3-1 while Messiah improves to 10-0. The Cougars are back in action Tuesday afternoon when they host Juniata at McGeehan Field.