BOWLING GREEN, Ohio – Max Touloute's goal with less than four minutes remaining in the second half lifted the IPFW men's soccer team past Saint Francis, 1-0, on Saturday afternoon. The neutral-site match, part of the BGSU Invitational, was held at Cochrane Field.

The win was the Mastodons' first of the season, improving IPFW to 1-5-1. Saint Francis drops to 0-5-1 on the year. The Red Flash will battle tournament host Bowling Green at 2 p.m. on Sunday.

The match was evenly played for most of the 90 minutes. Both teams had scoring chances, with IPFW holding a 17-12 advantage in shot attempts. But, both teams put precious few of those shots on net. The Dons had four shots on goal, to three for the Red Flash.

IPFW goalkeeper Michael Knitter stopped all three SOG he faced, en route to the shutout win. SFU senior goalkeeper Brad Williams (San Lorenzo, CA/Arroyo) (San Lorenzo, Calif. / Arroyo) also made three saves.

 The lone goal came with only 3:53 left in regulation. IPFW's Chris Dolinski brought the ball into the SFU end of the field, and played a ball to Jorge Ramirez on his right. Ramirez slid a pass to his left, finding Touloute on the right side of the penalty area. From about 12 yards out, Touloute blasted a one-timer into the far (left) side of the goal.

 Touloute now has four of the Mastodons' six goals on the young season.

 Dolinski had had several solid chances for IPFW just prior to the goal. With nine minutes left, Touloute worked a give-and-go with Todd Mizicko, and Touloute's right-side cross found the head of Dolinski, but he redirected the ball just wide.

 Then, with five-and-a-half minutes remaining, Dolinski drilled a shot from the right side of the area, but Williams was able to deflect the ball over the bar with a leaping effort.

 While IPFW had applied most of the pressure during the moments prior to the goal, the Red Flash had several chances in the final few minutes. With two minutes remaining, junior Daniel Moir (Christchurch, New Zealand/Shirley Boys) (Christchurch, New Zealand / Shirley Boys) took a pass and fired a turnaround shot from the top of the box. The spinning ball got over the head of Knitter, but went just over the crossbar.

 SFU had hit the woodwork several times during the match. After an IPFW foul just outside the box, SFU's Patrick Fleming (Dunedin, New Zealand/Bayfield) (Dunedin, New Zealand / Bayfield) took the free kick and slid the ball to a charging Brent Brockman (Dillsburg, PA/Northern York) (Dillsburg, Pa. / Northern York). Brockman's laser hit the right post and bounded right back to Knitter.

 Then, in the second half, David Butler (Baltimore, Md./Loyola Blakefield) (Baltimore, Md. / Loyola Blakefield) played a forward ball for Owen Gombami (Pumula North Bulawayo, Simbabwe/Mzilikazi) (Pumula North Bulawayo, Zimbabwe / Mzilikazi). Gombami got behind the defender and lofted a shot over Knitter, but the ball glanced off the top of the bar and out of play.