DC falls on senior day in tough 1-0 defeat to Transy

DEFIANCE, Ohio – Senior Day for the Defiance men's soccer team ended with a tough, 1-0, defeat to Transylvania Saturday afternoon at Winsper-Knobel Field. 

The Yellow Jackets (8-9, 3-4 Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference) fell behind early and were unable to generate a quality scoring chance against Transylvania (10-4-2, 4-2-1 HCAC).

Seniors Sean Roberts (Canal Winchester, Ohio / Canal Winchester) and Luke Freels (Ludlow Falls, Ohio / Milton Union) were honored before the game by Head Coach Alex van der Sluijs and the team, but each had a tough day in their final match on home soil in their collegiate careers.

90 seconds into the game, Roberts was knocked down on a play while jumping to an air ball into the box.  Kyle Smith capitalized for the Pioneers and in a header to give Transylvania an early lead.

From that point forward, Roberts proved unbeatable in net, making three tough saves while eliminating several threatening crosses and balls played into the box.

The Yellow Jacket offense struggled in the game and Transylvania limited Defiance to just five total shots. None of DC's shots were on frame to test the Transylvania keeper.

Defiance had a tough time generating offense with 10 men, after Freels was sent off in the 54th minute with a red card for a hard foul.

Despite the tough defeat, coach Van der Sluijs made a point to recognize the contributions of the Yellow Jackets' two seniors.

"It has been great working with these two young men throughout their career here at Defiance College," Van der Sluijs said of his two seniors.  "They have worked hard.  It has been a fun year and it will be hard to see them go."

Defiance opens up the last week of the regular season with a game on Wednesday at Bluffton. The first whistle is set for 4 p.m.