Air Force Falls to Nebraska Omaha in Home Opener, 2-1

U.S. Air Force Academy, Colo. - The Air Force men's soccer team dropped its home-opening contest to Nebraska Omaha, 2-1, Saturday evening at Cadet Soccer Stadium. The Falcons drop to 1-5 on the season while Omaha tallied their first win for a 1-4-1 record.

The young Falcon squad put up a hard fight for the international-laden Omaha team, outshooting Omaha, 21-12, on the match, narrowly missing goal on several opportunities. Sophomore forward JT D'Emidio led the match with six shots, three on frame.

The Mavericks struck first in the 30^th minute and again in the 87^th, going up two-nil late in the game. The Falcons lit up the scoreboard in an attempt to rally as Lathan Spadafora notched his first goal of the season off the deflection. After a few more close opportunities on Omaha's frame in the waning minutes, the Mavericks were finally able to take a sigh of relief as the clock expired.

"I'm certainly not disappointed with the effort of our men," head coach Doug Hill said. "Their attitudes were good and we took a lot more shots but unfortunately we didn't come out on the winning end. We need to turn it around for next week as the most important matches of the season are coming up and that's Western Athletic Conference play."

"If we continue to keep our attitude and attacking mentality then the wins will come," continued Hill. "I'm proud of Julian Flores and his leadership of the team. We only have two seniors now and they're doing a great job playing their hearts out and I think it's going to inspire our younger players to step up and fill those roles."

"We're going to keep improving and do everything we can to make our way to the conference play offs."

The Falcons open conference slate hosting Kansas City at 1 PM MT, Saturday (Sept. 28), at Cadet Soccer Stadium. The meeting will be Air Force's only match of the weekend.

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