OMAHA, Neb. - After lightning in the metro caused a 90-minute suspension of play, the Mavericks closed out a 1-0 win over visiting San Francisco to improve to 3-0 to start the season. It's Omaha's best start to a season in seven years. 

In a physical defensive match that included five yellow cards, Omaha's Theo Klein scored the game's only goal on a penalty kick 42:02 into the match following a yellow card given to Dons coach Chris Brown. It is the ninth career penalty kick goal for the junior from Strasbourg, France, extending his Omaha record. 

"All the work that we put in every day, every morning in practice pays off," Klein said. "And we wanna keep going, keep rolling. This weekend, we're going for the 4-0, and then we go from there."

The three game win streak is the longest of Donovan Dowling's coaching career. The Mavericks look to stay perfect when they host Loyola Chicago Sunday at Caniglia Field at 1 p.m. CT. The Mavericks haven't won three straight at home since 2020.

The match had been moved forward two hours in an effort to avoid expected severe weather conditions, but lightning still caused a delay at approximately 5:30 p.m. CT. with 33:37 remaining to play. The severe weather skirted Caniglia Field for the most part, and with a little rain on the field, play resumed at 7:07 p.m. under mostly blue skies.

"I thought we responded from going in the break (for lightning), coming out the last 33:00, I thought we were pretty good," Donovan Dowling said of his 19th career win at Omaha (19-14-6). "That was good from us, and we gotta keep building." 

San Francisco's best chance to level the match came 59:13 in when senior goalkeeper Nathanael Sallah's leaping save of Joe Core's shot preserved the clean sheet. It was the 8th shutout of his Omaha career.

With their season-opening win on the road last Thursday and a 3-2 comeback win over visiting Florida Atlantic Sunday, Omaha starts the year 3-0 for the first time since 2017. That season they claimed the Summit League title and earned an NCAA bid. 

The home stand ends Sunday afternoon against Loyola Chicago at 1 p.m. at Caniglia Field.