COLUMBIA, Ky. – The Fire came out Saturday afternoon and put together a solid opening 52 minutes of play, but couldn't sustain it, falling to No. 22 Bethel University, 4-0.
The Fire (0-1-1) faced its second nationally-ranked foe in three days and outplayed the Wildcats through the first half. In fact, SEU's Fabio DePaula had the match's lone shot on goal of the entire first half, 12:02 into the contest. The SEU defense did not allow the first Wildcat shot on goal until 6:48 into the second half.
Bethel, though, struck for the first goal of the game 1:46 after its first shot on goal, at the 53:58 mark, to take a 1-0 lead. Three other Wildcats scored a goal apiece in the final 17:33 of the match. Victor Cavalcante put the lone second-half SEU shot on goal at 82:50 of the match, but the Fire were unable to muster any significant pressure on the Wildcats in the frame.
Cavalcante accounted for three of the Fire's seven shots in the match. DePaula, Colton Eliasen, Kory Nekoloff, and Guilherme Viserta each had one shot.
Henrique Cavalini saved five Wildcat shots in goal before being replaced by Estaban Navarrete, who had one save in the final 8:58 of the match.
Southeastern will trek over to Tampa on Wednesday evening, August 28, for a 6 p.m. exhibition match against NCAA Division II University of Tampa.
