SPOKANE, Wash. – The Gonzaga men's soccer team returned to Luger Field on Friday night and came up just short against Utah Tech, 1-0.
 
The Zags had a lot of opportunities as they outshot the Trailblazers 18-9 with six of those shots being on goal. 
 
Utah Tech scored the winning goal in the fifth minute off a free kick from outside the box. Nikolai Shumov scored the goal with the assist coming from Dunes Nielsen for the Trailblazeres.
 
In the 43rd minute, Gadea was issued a red card and the Zags had to play a player down until Utah Tech's Julian Herrera received his second yellow card of the night to also put the Trailblazers with one less player in the 66th minute.
 
In the first half, the Zags took five shots with one of those on goal. Demitirus Kigeya led the way with two shots as Logan Dorsey took the one on goal. Frankie Ljucovic and Victor Gadea also took a shot a piece.
 
Going into the second half down 1-0, the Zags kept putting on pressure Utah Tech. In the 66th minute, Dorsey was awarded a penalty kick to attempt to even the game, but goalkeeper Jacob Zimmerman made a save to keep Utah Tech ahead of the Zags.
 
Dorsey nearly evened the game again with a shot in the 74th minute, but the ball hit the right post to block his shot.
 
In the 75th minute, the Zags were awarded a free kick just outside the box and Leon Sitz narrowly missed the left side of the net to give the Bulldogs another opportunity to even the game. Loic Baures took the final shot of the game in the 89th minute as the Bulldogs kept up the pressure until the final minute.
 
Kigeya and Baures led the Bulldogs in shots with five each. Dorsey was right behind them with three shots and two of those on goal.
 
Records: Zags move to 3-6-0 on the year and 3-1 at home. This was the first matchup between the two teams as Utah Tech is now 2-5-0 this season.
 
Up Next: Gonzaga goes back on the road to take on St. Thomas on Tuesday, Sept. 27. The game is slated for 2 p.m. Pacific Time. Live stats and live video can be found at GoZags.com.