LORETTO, Pa. - The Robert Morris University men's soccer team lost 1-0 Thursday afternoon to the Saint Francis Red Flash at the Stokes Soccerplex.

The loss drops them to 1-6 on the season.

Bryan Akongo earned the first quality look for either side in the 7' when a nice feed from Gal Ben Dayan sprung the freshman for a chance inside the box, however his effort was saved by SFU keeper Jonas Diesler.

Akongo came close again in the 22', getting a toe on a service into the box before the rebound steered wide of an onrushing Evan Lamarca on the far post before he could get to it.

A third chance from RMU failed to connect, as this time Noe Bijou pushed his back heel flick high after a dangerous corner taken by Michael Petitti found him near the top of the box.

The physical play continued as Lorenz Ender nearly put SFU ahead in the 36', however his effort from the right wing sailed just wide of the far post and an outreached Friedrich Petrelli.

One more chance for SFU from Jeff Thielman with five seconds left in the opening period sailed high as a scoreless first expired.

The Colonials continued to produce chances in the second, nearly going up 1-0 after a great ball from Charlie Lawrence connected with Lamarca again, however his header sailed wide.

Akongo out-muscled a defender in the box minutes later for a dangerous turning shot but the forward failed to solve Diesler in goal for the second time.

Despite a 6-0 RMU advantage in shots on goal, the Red Flash opened the scoring in the 60', taking a 1-0 advantage courtesy of a goal from Maximus Rigby.

Two more remarkable saves from Diesler on Akongo and Ben Dayan with under three minutes to play helped SFU hold on for the win.

SCORING PLAYS

60' - Rigby, Assist: Thielman

QUICK HITS

Akongo led RMU with three shots on goal…RMU outshot SFU 8-2

QUOTABLES

"Proud of the teams' effort and execution on a lot of things tonight, unfortunately we didn't score and defended in transition for 90 minutes, which in the end were the reasons why we didn't leave with more. We will learn from this, recover and continue to grow from these challenges. Now, our focus turns back to Horizon League play with a big game at Purdue Fort Wayne on Saturday." - Head Coach Jason O'Keefe 

NEXT UP

RMU travels to Fort Wayne, Indiana for a showdown with the Purdue Fort Wayne Mastodons on Saturday at 2:00 PM.