Phoenix, AZ- On Thursday night, mistakes from Arizona Christian had a hand in both goals they allowed as they fell 2-1 to Bethesda (CA).  Junior Carlos Morales scored his second goal of the season on an assist from Senior Ryan Scarpulla.

The first 25 minutes saw the Flames (1-1) come out as the aggressors as they controlled the run of play and outshot the Firestorm (1-1) 6-0 including a shot off the post.

Sophomore Alex Segura finally fired off the first ACU shot of the evening when he drilled a free kick from 40 yards out that required an acrobatic diving save to be pushed wide of the goal.  The ensuing corner kick saw ACU capitalize on their chance when Scarpulla served his corner to the back post and Morales knocked home the first goal of the match.

The next shot of the game came in the 38th minute as Bethesda evened the score.  A free kick from the Flames into the box was not completely cleared by ACU and eventually resulted in a pass from the end line connecting with a player in the middle.

At the break with the game locked in a 1-1 tie, the Flames held a 10-2 shot advantage.

Ninety seconds into the second frame, Sophomore Damian Sanchez, who hustled all over the field all 90 minutes, hit a dangerous shot that required another diving save and resulted in a corner kick.  But ACU was turned away.

However, two minutes later an ACU goal kick was hit right down the middle of the field to a Bethesda player that three touches later ended in a 30 yard rocket into the back of the net and gave the Flames their 2-1 edge with 41 minutes to play.

From there, BUCA started to pack it in defensively more and more as they only took two more shots the rest of the night.

The Firestorm had several good looks thanks in part to moving a man up via a red card issued to the Flames with 25 minutes remaining.

Set pieces like corner kicks and free kicks afforded Arizona Christian several oh so close headers- one from Junior Anthony Archuleta (just high) and Sanchez (saved) and two by Freshman Diego Robles (barely over the crossbar and another deflected just past the goal).

But to no avail as ACU dropped their first loss of the season- much to the displeasure of the large all-in crowd.

With a week before their next match, Arizona Christian will have a chance to solidify some of their play as they prepare to travel locally to meet up with Benedictine-Mesa.  The match will be played at the Riverview Park in Mesa at 8:00 pm.