ERIE, Pa. - The Daemen College men's soccer found itself battling from behind for the vast majority of the game, but the Wildcats couldn't find an equalizer as they fell in non-conference action to Interstate-90 rival Gannon University under the lights at McConnell Family Stadium.

The loss, Daemen's third-straight, pushes the Wildcats to 1-4-0 on the season, while Gannon, a member of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference, improves to 2-3-0.

Ted Martin put the Golden Knights on top early, real early.  Martin scored just 52 seconds into the contest with an assist credited to Sergio Kobowane on the play.  It was by far the fastest goal surrendered by Daemen this season, but it also marked the second-straight game in which Daemen was scored on within the first six minutes of the game.

To make matters worse, Connor Pletz placed a shot to the top left corner of the goal, putting Gannon ahead 2-0 at the 7:07 mark. 

But, Daemen regrouped and closed the gap to one just moments later. After being awarded a penalty kick, sophomore Logan Podrebarac (Burlington, Ont./Tiffin University) made good on the attempt with his first goal of the season, making the score 2-1 at the 9:12 mark.  Podrebarac's tally marked the Wildcats' first goal via penalty kick since Zakariah Hall (Wells, England/The Blue School) netted one versus University of Maine-Fort Kent on October 12, 2012.

But, Gannon would up the lead to 3-1 when the Golden Knights engineered their own penalty kick opportunity.  GU's George Stannard score on the ensuing attempt, his second tally of the season to put the hosts back ahead by two.

The game would go to halftime that way, but wouldn't stay that way for long.  Junior forward Alex Reid (Lockport, N.Y./Lockport) scored on a rebound opportunity at the 51:35 mark to again pull Daemen within one.  Junior Matt Cordovani (Tonawanda, N.Y./Kenmore East) was credited with an assist on the play which resulted in Reid's first goal of the season, and the 10th of his career.

But, trailing by one, Daemen generated just two shot attempts in the final 38-plus minutes, both of which were turned away by GU goalkeeper Jorge Hernandez.  The first Daemen scoring opportunity came from junior striker Cole Beale (Hamburg, N.Y./Hamburg) in the 59th minute while freshman Kyle Tracy (Cicero, N.Y./Cicero-North Syracuse) had a chance thwarted late in the game (84:07).

Hernandez made four stops to pick up the victory between the pipes.  Daemen was paced in goal by freshman Justin Figler (Grand Island, N.Y./Grand Island) who went the distance once again, making two saves.

Gannon outshot Daemen 13-7 in the contest, but Daemen was far more efficient, placing six attempts on frame compared to Gannon's five.  The Wildcats also led 7-3 in corner kick opportunities.

Today's meeting marked the second-straight year in which the Wildcats and Golden Knights have met.  The two teams, separated by just 99 miles, met almost a year ago to the day, with Daemen winning 3-1 at Dimp Wagner Stadium in Amherst on September 16, 2014.  Beale netted a pair of goals and Reid registered a second-half insurance tally in the win.

Daemen is now idle until next Tuesday, September 22 when it continues a season-long stretch of five-straight road games by making the short trek across town to face D'Youville College in another non-conference affair at 7 p.m.

For continuing coverage of the Daemen men's soccer team throughout the season, follow @DaemenAthletics and @DaemenMSOC on Twitter.