LAKE WALES, Fla.- The Ave Maria University men's soccer team found themselves in an early hole on Saturday afternoon, and could not recover in a 5-2 loss to the Warner University Royals in Lake Wales. Warner jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the opening 15 minutes, and never trailed in the Sun Conference match. 

Warner grabbed the advantage in the ninth minute, courtesy of Ranier De Jesus. De Jesus found the back of the net unassisted to give the Royals the lead. Warner added another goal in the 13th minute, as Daniel Rodriguez recorded the first of his three goals on the day, stretching the Royal lead to 2-0.

Oscar Alcivar got the Gyrenes on the board in the 28th minute. The junior defender scored the first goal of his AMU career, with the aid of an assist from Raphael Rodriguez. The Alcivar goal pulled the Gyrenes within one goal at halftime.

The Royals struck twice in the opening ten minutes of the second half, as Rodriguez completed his hat trick with a pair of goals. Rodriguez's tallies were assisted by De Jesus and Renzo Montaiuti. De Jesus scored in the 81st minute on an assist from Nick Diaz to complete the scoring for Warner.

The Gyrenes completed the scoring in the 88th minute of the match. Senior Branthon Rodriguez-Rojas scored the second goal of his career on an assist from Josh Roberge, who earned his second assist in as many games.

Alejandro Echeverria was the most active Gyrene offensively, taking seven shots and putting four of them on goal. De Jesus had an identical line for the Royals. In the net, Warner goalkeeper Miguel Ardilla recorded eight saves, while Andrea Salomone logged six for the Gyrenes. John Turner came on for the final ten minutes in net, and saved the only Warner shot on goal during that time.

Ave Maria remains on the road next week, playing each of their next four matches away from home. The week begins with a non-conference match against Johnson University on Wednesday. Kickoff in Kissimmee is scheduled for 1:00 p.m.