LA GRANDE, Ore. – The University of Providence men's soccer team fell to Eastern Oregon 2-1 on Monday in a tightly contested battle.

The Mountaineers (2-7, 1-5) got on the board first, scoring in the 33^rd minute on the goal from Alexander Zuluaga.

"We were trying to be more defensive to start out," interim head coach Danny Burstein said. "That was just our plan. We wanted to hit them on the counter attack and wait for our chances. The second half was a little more back and forth."

The Argos (3-1, 3-1) picked up the pressure in the second. Though the Mountaineers scored again in the 53^rd minute, Joel Samayoa cut into the deficit off of George Almedia's assist in the 65^th minute. The Argos had several more chances, but couldn't convert before the final whistled sounded.

"The goals we gave up were a couple of moments where we lost focus," Burstein said. "Other than that we were getting out of the game plan what we wanted. We wanted to stop them from having opportunities and take advantage of our situation with some tired legs. We were very much in the game the whole time."

The coaching staff will plan to dedicate some practice time to defending set pieces; two of the three goals the Mountaineers scored this weekend were off set pieces.

"We're probably going to work on those a little bit," Burstein said. "That was something we struggled with this weekend. We gave them too many opportunities from set pieces. That's something that could really make a difference for us these last four games."

The team will return to Argo Field for their final pair of home games this weekend, taking on Carroll both Sunday and Monday of next week. Both games will kick off at 3:00 p.m.