SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. – Battling through a blanket of fog, the University of San Francisco men's soccer team (6-3-2, 0-2 WCC) went toe-to-toe with No. 9 Portland (8-0-3, 2-0 WCC) for a majority of their match on Saturday night, but the Dons ultimately fell 1-0 in a hard-fought contest at Negoesco Stadium.
 
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

• Going for it right out of the gates, Portland fired their first shot of the night at 5:13, but goalkeeper Eric Waltz continued his stellar play in the cage by denying the initial attack from the Pilots.
• Throughout the rest of the half, Nathan Simeon, Omar Juarez and Rodrigo Bueno each attempted to get the Dons on the board, but were unable to find the back of the net through the first 45 minutes of play. At the half, the match remained scoreless at 0-0.
• Coming out of the locker room, Portland continued to attack as the Pilots jumped in front, 1-0, on a goal from Gurman Sangha in the 66^th minute.
• Battling until the final whistle, USF countered on offense down the stretch, but could not find the equalizer they needed to draw even with Portland. Despite a few yellow cards in the closing minutes, the Pilots hung on to remain undefeated by securing the 1-0 road victory. 

NOTABLE PERFORMANCES:

• As a team, the Dons outshot the Pilots, 9-8, including a 4-2 clip in the first half. For Juarez, the freshman tied his season-high with three total shots on Saturday night. 
• Overall, USF held their opponent to single digit shot attempts for the sixth time this season. Additionally, Saturday also marked the fourth time an opponent has registered three shots or less on goal.
• Additionally, the Dons led the Pilots in corner kicks, 5-2. 

POSTGAME WITH THE DONS:
 
Head Coach Chris Brown- "It was a good WCC battle…. I thought we played well a majority of the game. The game obviously goes in ebbs and flows and it was going to be the team that didn't make mistakes. Unfortunately, we gave up a soft goal… that needs to be avoided. They capitalized and we didn't put away our chances and that's soccer. It stings because we believe this is a game we could win, but we're not going to feel sorry for ourselves. We're going to get back to work on Monday and we got a Saturday matchup against Cal, which is a big game for us, and then we need to start going on a run in conference. We have goals set for ourselves and nothing has changed for our mentality and what we want to do the rest of the season."

• To view the full highlights of tonight's match, please click here.  

UP NEXT:
USF will play their final non-conference match of the season next Saturday, Oct. 15 as the Dons will make the short trip across the bridge to take on the Cal Bears at 1:00 pm. Live streaming and live statistics will be available via the team's schedule page. 
 
FOLLOW US:
For updates and more information on the USF men's soccer program, be sure to follow @USFDonsMSoccer on Twitter, @USFDonsMenssoccer on Instagram and @USFDonsMSoccer on Facebook.
 
SPONSOR THE DONS:
The University of San Francisco Athletics Department would like to acknowledge and thank our primary sponsor - Provident Credit Union - for their continued support of USF Athletics. Interested in sponsoring the Dons? Please contact Frank Allocco, the Executive Senior Associate Athletics Director of External Relations, at fallocco@usfca.edu or at (415) 422-4561.