MADISON, Wis. - The Edgewood College men's soccer team hung tough with the Dominican University Stars Saturday afternoon at Warner Park, falling 1-0 in a tightly-contested Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference match. Besides a Stars goal in the 14th minute off of a lengthy free kick that led to a Sonny Saiz header that scooted past Matt Dammen, the Eagles played extremely well on the defensive side. The loss drops the Eagles to 6-6-1 overall and 3-3 in the NACC, while the Stars now sit at 8-4-2 overall and 6-1 in league play.

Trent Miller lined up for a free kick well past the midfield mark just shy of the 15th minute and blasted a shot deep into Eagles territory. Sonny Saiz positioned himself well enough to get a decent shot off from a header and found the back of the net. It was the sophomore's third tally of the season.

The Eagles strung together a few scoring threats late in the second half in their comeback attempt but just missed out on tying things at one on a couple of occasions. The biggest threat came in 64th minute when Zander Rothering got a shot off that came in from the right side of the box, but Stars goalkeeper Gabriel Gongora--who played only in the second half--barely got a piece of the ball to deflect it wide right. Senior Kelmend Isaj nearly had a goal as well, as a blast in the 85th minute deflected off a defender and almost ricocheted into the lower left corner of the goal. Isaj's shot would be the last for the Eagles on the day.

The Eagles and Stars each had four shots on goal in the contest, but Dominican controlled the ball fairly well most of the game and finished with 17 shots total compared to eight for the Eagles. Henry Simon had two shots on goal for the Eagles and four overall while Neftali Alejandre and Ryan Ybarra both finished with four for the Stars. Matt Dammen, who fell to 6-6-1 on the season with the loss, stopped three shots on the night. Gongora finished with two saves in his 45 minutes of playing time while Zach Watson--who played the entire first half for the Stars--also recorded a pair of saves.

Edgewood College will return to action Wednesday, Oct. 15 against Wisconsin Lutheran College at Warner Park in Madison, Wis. Game time is set for 7 pm.