TEMPLE TERRACE, Fla. — The Ave Maria Men's Soccer team suffered their first loss of the season, falling to the Florida College Falcons 2-1. The Gyrenes took an early lead, but two quick goals at the start of the second half put the Falcons on top.

Ave Maria applied pressure early on and were rewarded with a goal in the 11^th minute. Just about 90 seconds after a Jerron Dopwell shot went high over the net, Andre Betioli found nylon off a nice feed from Anderson Duggan. For Betioli, it was his second goal of the season and third of his career with Ave Maria. Duggan also got his first assist as a Gyrene after transferring over from Wayne State.

The Gyrenes kept applying pressure with Mateo Rolon getting a shot on goal, but that was saved by the Florida College keeper.

On the other end of the field, the Gyrenes did not allow any looks for the Falcons. Florida College only managed one shot in the first half that went wide.

Andrija Vujakovic made his third start in goal for the Gyrenes, and after not facing a shot in the first half, brought his total up to 225 minutes played without a goal allowed to start the season, a school record.

In the second half, the Falcons got two quick goals to start the period and rode that to a win.

Ave Maria started the half off with back-to-back shots on goal from Balsa Medenica and Hayden Wysocki, but both of those were saved by the Florida College keeper.

The Falcons then went on a rush and recorded their first shot on goal. While that was saved by Andrija Vujakovic, he could not control the rebound which was put back into the net to tie the game at one in the 54^th minute.

Just two minutes and 13 seconds later, the Falcons got another shot passed Vujakovic and took a 2-1 lead.

The match tightened up from that point on. Ave Maria outshot Florida College 4-1 in the final 35 minutes, with two of those shots being directed on goal, but the Gyrenes could not find the back of the net before time expired.

With the loss, the Gyrenes record evens up at 1-1-1.

The match ends a three-game road stand to start the season for Ave Maria, who will open their home season Tuesday, September 3, against the Life Running Eagles. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m. and the game can be streamed on the Sun Digital Network.