The Misericordia University men's soccer team fell to #1 Messiah, 4-1, following three unanswered second-half goals, Saturday at Mangelsdorf Field.

Early in the second half, Nick Ruggiero netted the equalizer for the Cougars in the 55^th minute. Ruggiero advanced the ball past midfield, connected with Ethan Aigeldinger, then beat the keeper low following a return pass from Aigeldinger. It was Ruggiero's team-leading second goal of the season.

Misericordia had several other scoring chances, but couldn't connect. In the 19^th minute, Aigeldinger received a beautiful play from Cody Rogers, who elevated a ball over two defenders to hit Aigeldinger on the run. The senior had a good look at the net, but fired a shot just wide from approximately 10-yards out.

In the second half, following the Falcons' go-ahead goal, Rogers connected with Ethan Benedict on a 20-yard throw-in. With traffic around the net, Benedict attempted a shot from a couple yards out, but couldn't sneak it past the goalkeeper.

Despite Messiah's late goals, the Cougars were able to keep themselves in the game with phenomenal goalkeeping. Dominic Pizzi made several key saves throughout the game which kept Misericordia within striking distance.

In the 11^th minute, Pizzi fought off an early Falcon rush with two challenging stops. Lucas Kokolios played the ball to Luke Groothoff for a header on a corner kick. Pizzi deflected the header wide, then denied Groothoff once more after the forward gathered his own rebound.

Later in the half, Pizzi made another key stop when he denied David Alejos in the 34^th minute. Alejos attempted to beat Pizzi high, but the keeper made a leaping save and deflected his shot over the crossbar.

Minutes later, the Falcons threatened once more following a corner kick. Pizzi fought off the first shot from Justin Brautigam, then denied his second chance put back. The sophomore keeper ended the game with a season-high 10 saves.

First-year keeper Andrew Daubenspeck took over for Pizzi in the 71^st minute. Daubenspeck ended the game with three saves, including two phenomenal diving stops against Nick West.

Senior back Vincenzo Diliberti had a solid game defensively. In the 14^th minute, Diliberti beat West to a cross on the right side of the box and forced him out of play. Later in the contest, the senior stole the ball from West inside the box and denied the MAC's leading scorer of a quality scoring chance.

West netted his league-leading 12^th and 13^th goals in the contest while Groothoff scored the Falcons' other two goals.

The Cougars host Lycoming, Wednesday at 7:00.