For the third time this season Xavier found itself down in the second half, but this time the Saints weren’t able to take it into overtime as they fell to Cedar Falls 3-2 at Xavier on Monday.

Xavier is ranked No. 1 in Class 2A, Cedar Falls No. 10 in Class 3A.

The Saints (3-1-1, 1-1 MVC), who trailed 1-0 in the second half against Linn-Mar and 2-0 against Bettendorf, finally had a slow start catch up to them as the Tigers (5-0, 2-0 MVC) got a late goal with just 3:21 left to prevent overtime and escape with a win.

“Maybe it is a good lesson for us to not wait 60 minutes before we start playing,” Xavier Coach Amir Hadzic said.

After a scoreless first half, the Saints got the action going early in the second half when Daniel Cowden chipped a pass over the defense and right in front of Chad Gilmer who buried the ball in the back of the net.

It only took Cedar Falls three minutes to get the equalizer, on a corner kick that bounced around in the penalty box before Mohammad Shehata was able to boot it in.

“I think that tying goal was really big because it was a momentum shifter for them,” Hadzic said.

Cedar Falls took the lead in the 63rd minute on a bullet from outside the box. The Saints came roaring back and had a golden opportunity to tie the game on a penalty kick a minute later, but Zach Smith hit it wide left.

Smith redeemed himself five minutes later on a shot from about 30 yards out to tie the game back up at 2-2.

“I saw the keeper come out really far to clear it for some reason,” Smith said. “I think he realized that he was in the wrong spot to be doing that, so he just tried to get it away and it just came straight to my feet so I took a touch and I knew he wouldn’t be able to get back in time so I just floated it over the top of him and luckily it worked out pretty well.”

Xavier dug themselves a bit of a hole late in the second half when both of their starting central defenders, Tim Bouchard and Tommy Bales, got yellow cards. In high school soccer, a player must sit for 10 minutes after they get a yellow.

With their defense shorthanded, Cedar Falls forward Ahmad Shehata was able to get open in front of the goal and got the game winning goal in the 76th minute.

“Our head got a little bit too big and we got a little bit ahead of ourselves thinking, ‘We are ranked number one so wins will just come easily and teams will fold once they see us,’ ” Hadzic said.

Cedar Falls 3, Xavier 2
Goals -- Cedar Falls: Mohammad Shehata (51st min), Jacob Fagersten (63rd min), Ahmed Shehata (76th min); Xavier: Chad Gilmer (48th min), Zach Smith (68th min).
Assists -- Cedar Falls: Peter Tran, Phillip Tran; Xavier: Daniel Cowden.