LOS ANGELES, Calif. - Despite an early goal from Brandon Madsen, and 11 saves from Griffin Small, the Saints fell on the road to Cal State L.A. 2-1 on Sunday.

The Saints (0-3) struck first after Steven Chu found Brandon Madsen in the box, and Madsen's header found the net for his first goal in a Saint Martin's jersey.

The Golden Eagles (4-0) fired back with four shots, three of them being saved by Griffin before a penalty kick was awarded to CSULA. Tim Klefisch connected on the kick to tie the game at 1-1. Seven minutes later, the Golden Eagles took the lead on a strong finish from Ryan Arkelian, his first of the season.

In the second half, Small and the Saints defense gave Saint Martin's a chance to equalize the score after facing 13 shots with Small making five saves. However, the Golden Eagles were able to hold off the Saints' attack and secure the 2-1 victory.

"From a competitiveness point of view we found some pluses in the game," said head coach Rob Walker. "We have to realize we are going to have to put more continuous pieces fo the game together at this level but we have arrived. We had a good performance from Brandon Madsen... and stellar play from Sebastian Navarro and Tim Teipel who both played a full 90 minute game in over 100 temperature. 

"We did well in keeping the ball and spreading them out for the vast majority of the game," said Teipel. "Going forward, we had some solid opportunities that we weren't able to take advantage of."

Small finished with 11 saves and leading the Saints' offense was Madsen (two shots, one goal) and Stephen Murray Jr (two shots). Edgar Iniguez came in off the bench to give the Saints a shot on goal, along with Joey Mack.

The Saints remain in California with a match against Cal State San Bernardino on Tuesday, September 12 at 2:00 p.m.