DSU men's soccer fell 2-0 to the Saint Mary's Gaels after failing to recover from allowing two goals in the opening five minutes of the match. Despite outshooting the Gaels 21 to 15, the Trailblazers were handed a road loss in Moraga. 

HOW IT HAPPENED: The Saint Mary's Gaels came out with hot feet right from the opening whistle. The Trailblazers had some miscommunication between their center backs that led to Saint Mary's Phillipe Van der Lof finding the first goal just three minutes into the match. 

A minute later, Gael Quintero forced Guglielmo Bianchi into a turnover and got Tyler Hardin the ball for the second Gael goal.

After the opening minutes didn't go their way, the Trailblazers settled down and settled into this match. Idris Alabi found Daniel Brubaker in the 18 yard box and Brubaker got a shot off, but it was just high. 

The Gaels worked their way back down the field and continued to be dangerous but goalkeeper Levi Lord wasn't having it and made the save to keep the game 2-0. The Gaels had five shots in the first half alone.

DSU's next best look of the half came in the 22' when Jimi Villasenor had an open header on goal but the header went wide and was unable to find the back of the net.

Just before the halftime break the Gaels thought they had found a third goal but it was called offside. The game headed to halftime at 2-0 in favor of the Gaels.

DSU came out in the second half with a much more attack-minded game plan. The Trailblazers had three shots in the opening 15 minutes of the half. Additionally, Levi Lord made three saves. 

The second half of this game was much cleaner for the Trailblazers. Although possession was still split between these two teams, the Trailblazers had better control of the ball and found more opportunities on goal.

Guglielmo Bianchi was shown yellow in the 71' minute, the only caution shown to a Trailblazer in this match.

Hudson Ashcraft had a good look at goal in the 75' but the shot was deflected and blocked by the Gaels backline. A few minutes later Saint Mary's had a good look at goal but Lord and his backline covered it and forced Tyler Hardin's shot wide.

The closing 15 of this game was incredibly back and forth between these two teams. The Gaels were throwing everything they had to defend the Trailblazers.  

Matt Lockwood saw multiple great looks in the dying minutes of this game. With just three minutes in the game he tested Saint Mary's keeper, but Oladapo made a save to keep his team's shutout. Then again with seconds in the game Lockwood set a rocket on frame but Saint Mary's threw all their team's bodies on the line to keep it from finding the back of the net. Lockwood had three shots in the final three minutes of the match.

The Trailblazers fell 2-0 despite their best efforts in the second half to recover from a disappointing opening 10 minutes.

NOTES TO KNOW: This was the first time DSU faced the Gaels. These two teams have played a lot of similar schools in the past but never faced one another. The Gaels are ranked No. 23 currently.

As Matt Lockwood returns to the team he is seeing more and more minutes on the pitch. Today he played 78 minutes for the Trailblazers. 

This is just the Trailblazers second road loss of the year.

STAT BREAKDOWN:
Goalkeeper Levi Lord started in goal for DSU, he didn't record a save and gave up two goals in the first half. He rebounded excellently in the second half with five saves and no more goals were allowed.

Jimi Villasenor and Matt Lockwood led the team with shots in this game with four apiece. Niko Shumov had three.

The Trailblazers outshot the Gaels but couldn't get past sophomore goalkeeper Kash Oladapo. This game the Trailblazers saw the most shots of any game so far this season with 21.

The Gaels tested the DSU backline the whole game. DSU gave up just two goals on 15 shots faced.

Guglielmo Bianchi was the only Trailblazer to be cautioned in this game. He saw yellow in the 71' minute. 

UP NEXT: 
The Trailblazers head next to face UC Irvine on Sunday, Sept. 12 at 1:00 PM (PT). This game marks the midpoint in the Trailblazers five-game road trip. The Trailblazers have two more road matches against UC Riverside and Santa Clara after that before returning home to face Utah Valley.