NOTRE DAME, Ind. - Men's soccer fell 3-0 to the Saint of Holy Cross in their road match up that was already rescheduled to a later time as a result of the heat advisory in Northern Indiana. Despite multiple dangerous opportunities, particularly in the second half, the Maple Leafs were just not able to convert on goal, making this the third shut out in a row for the Saints.
Nicholas Whitaker led the Leafs in shots on the night with 4, followed closely by Pedro Diegues with 3. They both had one shot on goal apiece.
In spite of the heat, the Leafs played a high energy game, matching the physicality of the Saints and keeping a cool head under a high pressure midfield.
After the initial breakdown in only the fourth minute of play led to a goal for Dominic Castillo, the Leafs recovered well, and they held Holy Cross off until the 31st minute when Cliff Rwabira found his way through the GC defense as well.
The game was then scoreless until the 89th minute, when Cung Thawng managed to get in behind the GC defenders as a result of their aggressive push forward to try and find a goal in the last few seconds of the match.
Though the Saints capitalized early, the GC defenders learned from their mistakes and held the second half scoreless until the last second. The same was true of the Leafs on offense — they slowly found the holes in the Saints defense but just weren't quite able to finally put the ball in the back of the net.
The Maple Leafs are back in action on Saturday, Sep. 5 on the road in Chicago to face Saint Xavier. As the Leafs will be crossing into Illinois, this game will be played at 1:00 PM CST | 2:00 PM EST — something to keep in mind if planning to watch the livestream.
