Fernando Barragan in action versus Governor’s State SXU Athletics
The Saint Xavier University men’s soccer team took on Governors State University at Bruce R. Deaton Field on Wednesday, Oct. 18. The Cougars fell short late in the game, taking a 2-3 loss.
Their record currently stands at 8-5-4 and 6-4 in conference play.
The two goals from SXU came late in the game in an effort to start a rally and possibly a comeback win.
Goals were scored by senior midfielder Fernando Barragan (5) in the 59 minute, and freshman midfielder/forward Irving Moreno (2), assisted by senior midfielder Andy Lomeli, in the 86 minute.
Barragan had a game high; three shots on goal, on three shot attempts, and one goal in his 84 minutes played.
The only Cougars to play the full 90 minutes were graduate student goalkeeper, Andres Zamora and sophomore defender, Jessie Cardiel.
Zamora allowed three goals and had four saves. Cardiel had a shot on goal on two shot attempts.
Though the rally came up just short, it was good to see the Cougars show some life late in the game and go down with a fight.
Plenty of yellow cards, and one red card, were handed out in this match. Between the two teams, 15 yellow cards were administered, seven to Saint Xavier- including one team yellow- and eight to Governor’s State. The lone red card came against SXU’s Aldo Lagunas in the 49 minute.
Saint Xavier head coach Ed Vucinic, was also given a yellow card in the match.
GSU scored two of their three goals in the first period. They started the scoring early, beating Zamora in the sixth minute of the game.
The Jaguars’ second goal of the game came towards the middle of the first period, in the 22 minute.
SXU got a few decent looks on shots but could not get anything in the back of the net in the first period. The Cougars had five shots (three on goal) in the first, compared to Governor State’s nine (six on goal).
In the 52 minute, seven minutes into the second period, Governor’s State scored their third goal of the day, giving them a strong 0-3 lead against Saint Xavier.
GSU only had two more shots in the game, both header attempts off goal after their third goal.
It was not until the 59 minute when Barragan scored SXU’s first goal of the game, his fifth goal of the season.
Saint Xavier had five more shots on goal after Barragan’s goal, including a shot from Moreno that hit the crossbar.
In the 80 minute, the Cougars had an opportunity to get themselves within one goal late with a penalty kick, but Barragan’s efforts from 12 yards out fell short.
In the 86 minute, Moreno came up big with his second goal of the season to bring Saint Xavier within one goal of GSU. Unfortunately, the late efforts in the second period were not enough to carry the Cougars to victory.
The Cougars’ more than doubled their shots in the second period, getting off 12 shots (seven on goal), finishing with 17 shots (10 on goal), while GSU finished with 10 (seven on goal).
Despite the amount of shots on goal, the Cougars got off in the second period. They came up just short, evidently starting their rally too late into the game.
The late game offensive spark was good to see from Saint Xavier, but there are certainly some frustrations with not being able to score more than two goals with 10 shots on goal.
A late season loss against a conference opponent may be hard to take, but the Cougars are still looking good with just one game left in the regular season before the CCAC tournament begins on Saturday, Nov. 4.
As of publication, the Cougars are in fourth place in CCAC standings.
Olivet Nazarene University leads the conference with a 7-1-2 record, Governors State is in second at 7-2-1, and Roosevelt University is just ahead of SXU with a 7-3 record. If necessary, Saint Xavier holds the tiebreaker over Roosevelt.
Saint Xavier’s last regular season game takes place on Saturday the 28, at Deaton Field against Trinity Christian College. Kickoff is scheduled for 2:30 p.m.