Box Score
(Los Angeles) – San Francisco men's soccer closed its Southern California West Coast Conference road trip with a 2-1 loss to Loyola Marymount Sunday at Sullivan Field. The Dons (5-6-2, 3-2-1 WCC) battled fiercely against the defending league champion Lions (5-9-0, 3-3-0 WCC), who collected their third consecutive league win.
"We were in two very close games on the road against two very experienced teams," USF head coach Erik Visser said. "Although we are never satisfied with a loss, I am very pleased with the way we competed against two quality opponents. Today we played a senior-laden team that won a league championship last season. We competed for 90 minutes and gave ourselves a chance to win."
After a scoreless first half, Sean Sears gave LMU a 1-0 lead with his first tally of the season in the 56th minute. The Lions made it 2-0 on an Artur Jozkowicz strike off a rebound in the 76th minute.
Freshman midfielder Danny Kirkland recorded his first career goal in the 78th minute off a feed from sophomore midfielder Vegard Karlsen. Kirkland fired a rebound into the upper corner.
LMU held an 18-7 lead in shots; 9-2 in shots on goal. The Lions also held a 9-4 advantage in corner kicks. Karlsen led USF with three shots.
Junior goalkeeper Brendan Roslund (5-5-2) collected seven saves for the Dons and faced 18 shots. LMU's Max Young earned the victory in goal and made just one save on the afternoon.
With the conclusion of the first half of league play, San Francisco enters a bye week. On a team that regularly starts seven underclassmen, Visser is pleased with where the Dons stand heading into the second half of the WCC double-round robin schedule.
"If you would have told me at the beginning of the year that with this young group we would sit in third place with 10 points, I think that's pretty good. Now we have the opportunity to work on some things and prepare the team to start the second half."
USF Dons Soccer will host a special soccer alumni event Saturday, October 22 at Negoesco Stadium. Festivities will begin at 11:00 AM.
