Men’s soccer fell to the Valparaiso University Crusaders by a score of 3-2 in their final game before Mid-American Conference play begins.

The Huskies (3-7, 0-0 MAC) were able to cut into the Crusaders 3-1 lead in the 79th minute when junior forward Noah Brodie headed a ball, that was sent from redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Konrad Dziedzic, past Valparaiso junior goalkeeper Alex Richt’s outstretched arms to make the score 3-2, but that is as close as the Huskies would get.

Head Coach Ryan Swan was disappointed with his team’s defense.

“We need to clean up the defensive mistakes,” Swan said. “The number of opportunities we gave to Valparaiso we handed to them. The same thing happened last game. I don’t know if it’s a mentality thing or a technical thing but everything needs to be cleaned up a little.”

The Crusaders dominated the time of possession and it showed on the score sheet as Valparaiso had 19 shots to seven from the Huskies.

Valparaiso opened the scoring in the 19th minute when freshman midfielder Jonas Engler got a ball past Dziedzic to give the Crusaders a 1-0 lead.

The Huskies remained aggressive and found the equalizer in the 27th minute when junior midfielder Kevin Rodriguez scored his first goal of the season by putting a ball in the top corner of the goal from 30 yards out to tie the game at 1-1.

The Crusaders countered a minute later when sophomore midfielder Adan Garcia headed a ball past Dziedzic to give Valparaiso their one goal advantage back.

Coach Swan was concerned with his team’s focus after scoring goals.

“I don’t know if it’s a lack of focus or what it is but certainly something has been happening when we score goals, the same thing happened at UIC,” Swan said. “I think the guys [get too comfortable] once we’ve scored and they shut down a little bit.”

Dziedzic finished the game with four saves, with three diving saves coming in the final three minutes of the first half to keep the score at 2-1 going into halftime.

The Crusaders took a 3-1 advantage in the 75th minute when junior midfielder Rafael Mentzingen hit a ball off the post and into the net.

The Huskies open conference play 6 p.m. Saturday when they travel to Morgantown, West Virginia to take on the University of West Virginia Mountaineers.