OWENSBORO, KY. – The Kentucky Wesleyan College men's soccer team opened its season with a 2-0 loss to the University of Southern Indiana on Thursday evening. A scoreless first half turned the way of the Screaming Eagles early in the final 45 minutes.
 
The Panthers (0-1) used a meticulous approach offensively in the first half, making calculated decisions in navigating downfield. The lone scoring opportunity went wide, but the period ended in a scoreless tie. The Screaming Eagles (1-0) held a 12-1 edge in the shots while Jacob Stauffer made three saves.
 
The second period brought-in a new keeper for the Panthers in Lucas Daunhauer. In the 48^th minute and with some miss-direction in front of the Panthers' net, Sean Ricky found an alley to score the first goal of the match, the eventual game-winner. Austin Moore had a chance to tie match minutes later, but Justin Faas was able to make the lone save of the evening.
 
USI added another score off a corner kick from Adam Schluttenhofer, who found Colten Walsh in scoring range for a header into the Panthers' net in the 75^th minute. Wesleyan had limited scoring chances as the Screaming Eagles erased good opportunities with physical inside defense.
 
A more aggressive Panthers team looked to get the ball over the top of the defense throughout the second period, but two defenders eventually found their way squash any threat. With less than 10 minutes left in the match, Jacob Lensing saw his header blocked by the USI defense. With eight minutes left Victor Alhambra's shot suffer the same fate, but the carom found its way back to Lensing for another chance that was blocked again.
 
Lensing finished with three shots. Stauffer made three saves while Daunhauer recorded one.
 
The Panthers will travel crosstown to Brescia on Saturday afternoon to play the Wildcats. The match is scheduled for 4 PM.
 
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