GLENSIDE, Pa. -- Misericordia weathered a flurry of late scoring opportunities on its way to dealing the Arcadia men's soccer team a 1-0 defeat on Saturday afternoon at Jean Lenox West Field and Delran Pavillion.
 
The Cougars (1-2) took a 1-0 lead in the 49th minute when Ethan Benedict curled a pass onto the foot of Nick Ruggerio on the left side of the box, who then beat Arcadia's Jake Varrato across the face of goal.
 
The Knights (2-2), who outshot the Cougars 18-3, had a number of quality chances late in the contest to find the equalizer. Ryan Hammer and Harun Abdullahi executed a nifty two-man game with just over 15 minutes to play, getting Misericordia's Dominic Pizzi off his line, but Abdullahi was denied his fifth goal of the season by Braden Christie, who cleared the ball from harm's way.
 
With roughly eight and a half minutes to play, Hammer got behind the defense and had a clean look on goal, but his shot sailed over Pizzi's head. Finally, with 1:22 to play, Duncan O'Connor was taken down in the box by the Cougars Levi Roberts for an AU penalty kick. Hammer stepped up to take the kick and was denied by Pizzi on a diving stop to his left.
 
IN GOAL: Varrato made two saves in the loss, while the Cougars got two saves from Pizzi in the contest.
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS: The Knights outshot Misericordia 18-6, marking a season high in both shots and margin (+12) … Hammer was booked for the third time this season, and the Knights have now picked up at least one card in every game this season … Abdullahi, the Knights' leading scorer with four goals this season, took a season-high 10 shots.
 
UP NEXT: The Knights return to action on Wednesday at Stockton beginning at 7 p.m.