AIKEN, S.C. – The University of South Carolina Aiken men's soccer team lost a hard fought 1-0 match to Carson-Newman Monday evening.

The pacers are now 1-2 on the year while the Eagles improve to 3-1.

After the first five minutes of the match, it was halted due to lightning in the area. The contest was delayed for over two hours before play resumed.

In the tightly contested match, Andre Simmond rocketed the ball toward the frame in the 14^th minute, but it sailed just high of the crossbar.

Simmond continued the offensive effort as he registered another attempt in the 27^th minute. Nader Fakih missed wide as did Nathan Shanko in the 32^nd minute.

The Eagles broke through off a set piece in the 34^th minute off a corner kick, but the flurry was far from over.

Head coach Ike Ofoje's team had three chances to knot the contest in the first half, but Jordan Missir missed high, Shanko missed to the right and Simmond was blocked as time ran off the clock just before the period ended.

USC Aiken had several attempts to tie the match in the early going on the second half, but back-to-back corner kicks by Shanko resulted in a bicycle kick attempt from Adria Dalmau. Although beautifully executed, the Eagles' keeper was up to the challenge of stopping it.

The Pacers controlled the ball in much of the final five minutes of action. The squad had four straight corner kicks in the closing minutes and a shot from Fakih was saved, keeping the contest at 1-0.

USC Aiken out-shot the visitors 14-11. Chase Boulton recorded three saves in the loss. Both teams had 11 corner kicks in the contest.

The Pacers return to action Thursday when they travel to Shorter for a 7 p.m., match.