WASHINGTON - It was an exciting start to Saturday's United East Conference men's soccer game here at Hotchkiss Field as Gallaudet University struck first against the first-place Penn State Harrisburg Lions. In the end, the Bison fell 7-1 to the top team in the conference.

Junior midfielder Brian Espanto (San Antonio, Texas) opened up the scoring in the 11th minute with an unassisted goal from 18 yards out that found the top left corner past Lions goalie Nicholas Guglielmetti.

Gallaudet (2-8, 1-5 United East) held the 1-0 lead until the 30th minute when Penn State Harrisburg (10-1-1, 6-0 United East) tied the game on Daniel Fombu's first of two goals in the opening 45 minutes of play. The visitors took a 3-1 lead into halftime.

In the second half, Penn State Harrisburg netted four additional goals as the Lions received goals from six different scorers. 

Bison junior goalie Shane Angel (Mechanicsville, Md.) accumulated 13 saves in 84 minutes played before freshman Callum Paterson (Mississauga, Ontario) came on to close out the game and tally two saves in the final six minutes of play.

BISON TRACKS

• Espanto's goal was his ninth career goal
• Junior midfielder Kelly Grant (Hazlewood, Mo.) had Gallaudet's other shot in the game
• Penn State Harrisburg outshot Gallaudet 42-2 and held a 12-2 edge in corner kicks
• The two teams combined for 22 fouls (11 each)

UP NEXT
Gallaudet will hit the road and head south to St. Mary's College of Maryland (10-5, 4-1 United East) on Wednesday, Oct. 20, for a 4:30 p.m. conference game.