The men’s soccer team continued their string of poor results on the road, losing to Richmond and playing to a scoreless draw against Duquesne over the weekend.

Playing at the Duquesne Invitational in Pittsburgh, the Falcons opened the weekend Friday against Richmond, a team that had yet to win a game on the young season, by scoring their only goal in the 180 minutes of weekend play.

The Falcons, playing with their first choice back line for the first time this season, could only keep the Spiders off the score sheet for four minutes, when Richmond midfielder Jed Antoun headed a cross past goalie Jeff Smoker.

The score line remained there until the 41st minute when Falcon forward Cameron Hepple found the back of the net on a pass from Max Weston. The assist was Weston’s first college career point.

‘It doesn’t make up for the loss. We need to play a more complete game,’ Weston said. ‘Everything is starting to click for us.

‘We did not take advantage of our opportunities against Richmond, and Richmond was able to take their chances well.’

The lead was short lived though as the second half started eerily reminiscent of the first, with Richmond scoring five minutes after the restart on a strike by Jake Russell.

The Falcons found themselves chasing the game after the Spiders’ second Spiders and allowed a third after 68 minutes.

‘I think we out played Richmond, but we had some mistakes on the back line,’ said right back Tyler Deal. ‘We had some miscommunication in the back, and we had to fix it. We need to be safer at times on defense.’

The 3-1 loss was the third straight for the Falcons, after starting the season with a win versus Marshall.

The Falcons needed a quick turnaround, as they were back on the field 24 hours later to face tournament host Duquesne. The Dukes left it late the prior evening, beating Manhattan with a strike in the 85th minute.

Unlike the game against Richmond, which saw the Falcons out-shoot the Spiders 18-12, including a 10-2 advantage in shots on goal, the Falcons were forced to play a more defensive brand of soccer against the tournament hosts.

But unlike the prior day, the Falcon defense was able to post a clean sheet over 110 minutes in double overtime, earning a scorelless draw.

Smoker recorded his first shutout for the Falcons, saving six shots. The Falcons were out shot 24-11 on the evening and were lucky to not let in a late goal as Duquesne’s Dave Cassanelli’s shot went of the cross bar with 10 minutes left in regulation.

The Falcons next test will come this weekend as they visit Dayton Friday before hosting IPFW Sunday.

Weston believes the team needs to get positive results before entering league play against No. 1 Akron Sept. 26.

‘We need to get two wins this weekend, which will help our confidence going into Akron,’ Weston said.