NASHVILLE – The 15th-ranked Saint Louis men's soccer team was unable to climb out of an early two-goal deficit and fell 2-1 at Lipscomb on Tuesday night at the Lipscomb Soccer Complex.

Saint Louis dips to 1-1 on the season. Lipscomb, last year's Atlantic Sun champion, improves to 1-1.

Both of the Bisons goals came within a three-minute span early in the match. Malachi Jones started the scoring in the 14th minute as he connected on his third goal of the year. Yuushin Nakagawa made it 2-0 just a few minutes later when his shot deflected off a SLU defender and found the back of the net.

Both goals came after the Bills were awarded a penalty kick a little more than minutes in after Carlos Leatherman was taken down in the box. However, Lipscomb goalie Juan Carlos Rodriguez made a nice save on Grady Easton's chance to keep the game scoreless at the time.

The Billikens got the all-important third goal in the 24th minute making it 2-1 Lipscomb. Galen Flynn started the scoring play with a long throw-in into the box. It pin-balled in the six-yard box before Diego Konincks buried it for his first goal as a Billiken.

SLU was awarded another PK in the 77th minute of the second half when Leatherman again drew a PK after being fouled in the box. Konincks took the PK in search of the late equalizer, but for the second time in the match Rodriguez made a great save on a SLU PK to help Lipscomb secure the victory.

The Billikens are back in action this Saturday night when it faces SIUE (2-0) on a neutral field at CITYPARK with the Bronze Boot on the line. Game time is 7:30 p.m.