STEUBENVILLE, Ohio – It speaks to what a strong men's soccer program Head Coach Gary Dunda has built at Geneva College over his nine seasons that, just three games into the 2018 season, he finds himself in unchartered territory.  Unfortunately for the Golden Tornadoes, that unchartered territory is not a positive place, as Geneva dropped a game on Tuesday afternoon at Franciscan, 3-2.  Franciscan improved to 2-1, while Geneva fell to 0-2-1.

For the first time since Dunda took over at Geneva in 2010, the Golden Tornadoes are now three games into a season without a win.  In fact, only one other time in the previous eight years had Geneva made it past its second game without a win.  That fact speaks again to what a strong program Geneva has been under Dunda's tenure, and it gives the veteran coach the challenge of figuring out a way to blend his small, but talented, group of seniors with an otherwise young squad looking to adjust to the loss of last year's very strong graduating class.

On Tuesday afternoon at Franciscan, Geneva fell down near the end of the first half when a blocked clearance near the goal by Franciscan forward Kevin Hermann found its way into the back of the net to give the Barons a 1-0 lead going into halftime.

That's where the game stayed until a crazy four minute sequence that saw four goals scored.  Sophomore Kevin Pasho started the scoring on an assist from sophomore Luke Herman to tie the score in the 77^th minute.  One minute later, though, Franciscan would answer back with two goals of its own just 1:13 apart.  Pasho cut the deficit back down to 3-2 when he netted his second goal of the night on an assist from senior Liam O'Halloran in the 80^th minute, but that proved to be the final goal of the night.

While Franciscan outshot Geneva 16 to 9, Franciscan only managed to put five of those shots on frame.  Unfortunately for the Golden Tornadoes, three of those five shots found the back of the net.  Meanwhile, Geneva managed nine shots on goal, including the two goals from Pasho.

Geneva will have to wait until Friday to get back onto the field in an attempt to pick up its first win of the young season.  The Golden Tornadoes will make the trip to Cleveland to take on Case Western Reserve at 7:30 p.m.  Case Western Reserve comes into that contest with a record of 1-1.  Geneva will then return home to face Penn State Behrend on Wednesday, September 12, at 7:00 p.m.


Geneva College is a Christ-centered academic community that provides a comprehensive education to equip students for faithful and fruitful service to God and neighbor. Offering over 80 traditional undergraduate majors and programs, fully online Adult Degree Programs, and high-demand graduate degrees, Geneva's programs are recognized for their high quality. U.S. News & World Report ranks Geneva as a Top Three Best Value Regional University with one of the Top 100 engineering programs in the nation. Adhering to the truth of Scripture, a Geneva education is grounded in God's Word as well as in a core curriculum designed to prepare students vocationally to think, write and communicate well in today's world.