RIVER FALLS, Wis. – The UW-River Falls men's soccer team battled back from an early three-goal deficit, coming up just short Thursday afternoon, falling 4-3 against Luther College at Ramer Soccer Stadium.
The Norse, ranked No. 7 in the region, jumped out to a 3-0 advantage within the opening 22 minutes. Ignacio Duenas opened the scoring in the 13th minute before adding his second just over four minutes later. Francesco Mungari extended Luther's lead to three in the 22nd minute.
UWRF made their response before halftime with
Sean Church putting the Falcons on the board in the 32nd minute, scoring off an assist from
Sam Everakes to cut the deficit to 3-1. Just over seven minutes later,
Noah Feneis found the net to bring River Falls within one at 3-2 heading into halftime.
Luther regained a two-goal cushion in the 74th minute as Mungari scored his second of the afternoon. The Falcons however answered almost immediately. Just two minutes later,
Mauricio Cuevas scored off a feed from
Victor Vancauteren, pulling UWRF back within one at 4-3 with just under 15 minutes remaining.
The Falcons continued to push for the late equalizer. Cuevas put another attempt on frame in the 86th minute, saved by Luther goalkeeper Will Lookingbill to preserve the Norse lead.
The Falcons were forced to play the closing minutes a player down after goalkeeper
Jaime Mata received a red card at the 87:09 mark.
Greyson Shiek entered in goal, making two saves over the final 2:51 to keep UWRF within distance, but the Falcons were unable to find the tying goal before the final whistle.
Mata finished with eight saves, while Shiek added two as the Falcons totaled 10 saves on the afternoon. Luther held a 21-9 advantage in shots and a 14-5 edge in shots on goal. Cuevas led UWRF with two shots, both on target, while Church and Feneis each scored on their lone shot of the match.
The loss moves UW-River Falls to 3-3-1 overall.
