AMHERST, N.Y. - Freshman midfielder Kyle Tracy (Cicero, N.Y./Cicero-North Syracuse) netted the first two goals of his career, but it wasn't enough to lead the Daemen College men's soccer team past Stonehill College in non-conference action today at Dimp Wagner Stadium as the Wildcats came out on the wrong end of a 3-2 decision.

With the loss, Daemen drops to 1-2-0 on the young season, while Stonehill, of the Northeast-10 Conference, improved to 2-1-0.  

Daemen opened the game with back-to-back scoring opportunities that had Stonehill goalkeeper Conor McDonough sprawling early to keep the game scoreless.  The first came off the foot of junior midfielder Nick Sammarco (Lockport, N.Y./Lockport) just over two minutes in, followed by a strike from sophomore midfielder Logan Podrebarac (Burlington, Ont./Tiffin University) two minutes later.  Both shots resulted in corner kick opportunities for the Wildcats but they came up empty on both attempts.

Stonehill's Richard Aprile opened the scoring, taking a pass from Connor O'Brien just inside the box, deking a couple Daemen defenders including goalkeeper Justin Figler (Grand Island, N.Y./Grand Island), and burrying his shot at the 23:03 mark to put the Skyhawks ahead, 1-0.

Less than a minute later Tracy struck for the Wildcats to even the score.  Redshirt-freshman Jeremy Nand (Toronto, Ont./University of Charleston) sent a long crossing feed from the deep right wing into the box which found a streaking Tracy who one-timed a re-direction past McDonough.

A couple moments later, Stonehill forged back ahead, getting a goal from Drew Montano at the 28:25 mark.  Stonehill was applying pressure in the Wildcat box when a failed Daemen clearing attempt found its way to Montano, an All-East Region selection last season, who put home his second marker of the season.  The Skyhawks would take their 2-1 lead into the halftime intermission.

Stonehill would jump ahead by two when another failed clearing attempt found its way right to an awaiting Skyhawk.  This time it was Justin Brehm who one-touched a shot to the back of the goal at the 69:53 mark to put Stonehill up 3-1.

Daemen would climb back within one when the Nand-Tracy connection hooked up again.  Junior striker Cole Beale (Hamburg, N.Y./Hamburg), who was credited with a secondary assist on the play, sent a long feed to Nand up the left wing.  Nand again sent a crossing feed into the box which Tracy was able to put a foot on in similar fashion to his earlier goal, cutting the deficit to one at the 77:51 mark.

But, the Stonehill defense stiffened, keeping the Wildcats on the periphery for much of the remainder of the contest.  A header attempt by Michael Gandt (Cheektowaga, N.Y./Maryvale) was Daemen's lone attempt from the inside the box late in the game, but it sailed high over the crossbar.  And, McDonough turned away long shot attempts by Beale and Robert Ralyea (Lockport, N.Y./Lockport) in the waning minutes to seal the win.

McDonough turned away seven Daemen shots to pick up the win between the pipes.  Figler made four saves for the Wildcats in a losing effort.

Despite the loss, it was a milestone day for Tracy.  He became the first Daemen player to register a multi-goal game since Beale netted a pair in a 3-1 win over Gannon University last season (September 16, 2014).  He also became the first Daemen freshman with a multi-goal game since Alex Reid (Lockport, N.Y./Lockport), now a junior, recorded both goals in a 2-0 win over University of Pittsburgh-Johnstown on September 29, 2013.

It was also a milestone day for Nand who picked up two assists for the second-straight game, becoming the first player in team history to record back-to-back multi-assist games.  Nand's four assists this season are the most for a Daemen player since Juan Esguerra, Zakariah Hall and Stephen Linderman each recorded four in 2011.

There's little time for the Wildcats to lick their wounds.  Daemen plays host to College of Saint Rose tomorrow (September 12) at 2 p.m. when the Wildcats will be looking for their second-straight win in the all-time series with the Golden Knights following last year's 2-1 win in Albany.

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