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DUBUQUE, Iowa -- In a battle of two of the top men's soccer teams in the NCAA Division III North Region, a goal in the 72nd minute proved to be the difference as host Loras College edged Augsburg College 1-0 in a nonconference game at the Rock Bowl on Friday evening.

Sean Lewis scored following a quick cross from Tim Van den Bergh and Kevin Cavers in the 72nd minute for Loras (8-1-1 overall), ranked No. 7 in the latest National Soccer Coaches Association of America Division III national poll and No. 11 in the D3soccer.com national poll. Augsburg (7-1-1 overall) is ranked No. 23 in the D3soccer.com national poll. Both teams are ranked in the NSCAA's North Region rankings -- Loras at No. 1 and Augsburg at No. 5.

"This was a great game to be a part of. Loras has been one of the best teams in our region for a while now," said Augsburg head coach Greg Holker. "I thought a draw would have been fair. We put one off the crossbar early and had several other good moments. Credit to their kid who found a way through a lot of bodies to get service to the back post for their goal."

Loras outshot Augsburg by a 10-7 margin in the game, but as Holker noted, a shot by Ahmed Gobana (SR, Burnsville, Minn.) hit the crossbar in the ninth minute. Gobana and Mathias Macody Lund (SO, Bergen, Norway) had two shots apiece for the Auggies in the game.

Clayton Lynch (SO, Cedar Rapids, Iowa/Xavier HS) had one save for the Auggies in goal. The Loras goal broke a string of four straight shutouts by the Auggies, a shutout streak that reached 454:17 over parts of six games.

Augsburg returns to action on Sunday (10/2) at 12 p.m. with a nonconference game at Wisconsin-Platteville.

"These are the games that help you prepare for the postseason. Now we have to recover and play another one on Sunday and get a result. (Going) 7-1-1 in September is a pretty good start," Holker said.