MONTGOMERY, Ala. --- The Auburn Montgomery men's soccer team played a hard-fought contest against #10 ranked Palm Beach Atlantic University in their first official contest as NCAA D-II members on Saturday, Sept. 7, but would ultimately fall 2-0 to the Sailfish. 
 
NOTEWORTHY
- With the loss, the Warhawks open up their 2019 campaign at 0-1. 
- Newcomers Andrew Elkins, Eric Besse, Arnaud Baron, Thomas Carlile, Lyndsey Moreland, Natan Hjaltalin, Lucas Batistela, Charlie Elliott, Darius Rashid, Elias Hanna and Renan Diniz all made their Warhawk debut in the match.
 
STANDOUT PERFORMERS
- Batistela paced the Warhawk attack with a team-high two shots taken, while putting one on frame.
- Baron added a shot on goal, while Carlile and Hjaltalin both accounted for a shot taken.
- Keeper Alexander Kraus (0-1) logged all 90 minutes in net for AUM, grabbing two saves. 
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
- The Sailfish opened up the match with four set piece opportunities in the first 13 minutes of play, eventually connecting on the fourth to take a 1-0 lead. 
- Batistela would get two of the Warhawk's better looks in the first half, with a shot from inside the box in the 20th minute that missed left, and a flush strike in the 37th minute from inside the box that would be denied by the PBA keeper to preserve their lead and keep it 1-0 heading into the half.
- The Warhawks got one of their best opportunities to tie the match in the 48th minute, with the strong-footed Carlile approaching the net. His shot from about 10 yards out, however, would get blocked by the Sailfish backline and keep them up 1-0. 
- AUM would get another look in the 81st minute, this time from Hjaltalin just outside the center of the box. His low-lining shot would fall victim to the Sailfish netminder, however. 
- PBA would deliver the dagger in the 85th minute, when Greg Pagni found the foot of Giancarlo Triulzi to put them up 2-0 for the match's final score.  
 
QUOTING THE COACH 
"I was pleased with our effort, the boys worked hard until the very last second," Head Coach Matthew Thorne said. "We steadied the ship for the first half, and we came at them hard in the second half. I thought we had good moments in the game when we were putting them on their back foot and under pressure; we even could've gotten a goal on a few of those occasions. PBA showed their quality though, and I am very proud of our effort. We can take a lot of positives from this, even though we lost."
 
INSIDE THE BOXSCORE
- AUM was outshot by PBA in the contest, 18-5. The Sailfish put four shots on frame, while the Warhawks put up two shots on goal. 
- The Sailfish took 12 corner kicks in total, while AUM took four.
- The Warhawks where whistled for 17 fouls, while PBA was tagged for 21. 
 
UP NEXT
- The Warhawks will return to the pitch on Monday, Sept. 9 when they host Webber International University. Kickoff from the AUM Soccer Complex is slated for 7:00 p.m.
 
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