The Dominican University men's soccer team hosted the #24 Washington University-St. Louis Bears on Saturday afternoon, falling 1-0 after the bears scored the lone goal of the match with under 1:48 remaining in regulation.
 
"It's disappointing to have another loss," said assistant men's soccer coach Jeff Halsema, "but I thought for the most part we played pretty well today.  I thought we were extremely organized and have been working on communication and did what we needed to do to get a result.  We have to learn how to put the ball in the net."
 
Throughout much of the first half, the teams felt each other out in a very tactical approach with just five shots total in the opening 45 minutes.  The best scoring opportunity came in the final seconds of the half when a Bears' restart led to a scramble in front of the net with WashU's Grant Baltes firing a shot from point blank that was stopped by Dominican's Gabriel Gongora, one of five saves for the Stars' senior goalkeeper in the match.
 
In the second half, the Bears controlled possession throughout the opening 15 minutes, including a pair of scoring opportunities that Gongora again saved in the first ten minutes to keep the match scoreless.
 
In the 89^th minute, just after another scoring opportunity for WashU, the Bears won a head ball at near midfield that sent Jack West to the top of the box before playing a ball along the right side of the box to Ryan Sproule who slid a shot on the ground inside the far post for the game-winner.
 
The loss drops the Stars to 0-2-1 on the season with the North Park University Vikings coming to West Campus Field on Wednesday for a 4:00 p.m. kickoff.  It will be Dominican's third match, out of its first four, against a BennettRank top 30 opponent in NCAA Division III.