Staff photo / Preston Byers Ursuline’s Xavier Glodziak (22) dribbles the ball during the Irish’s 2-0 win over Warren JFK on Tuesday in Warren.

WARREN — Ursuline had lost five matches in a row. Warren JFK, winless in all six of its matches this year, had lost four in a row since its lone draw.

Something had to give when the two teams met in Warren on Tuesday, even if it was a draw.

Unfortunately for the Eagles, their first win did not arrive, and neither did their second draw of the season. Instead, the Irish improved to 2-7 with a 2-0 shutout win on the road.

“We have a younger team this year, so anytime you can rally and get a win after a long stretch of losses, it helps the morale, especially for the seniors,” Ursuline head coach Joel Monaco said. “We only have three seniors this year, but it’ll definitely help to propel us as we move towards the middle-end of our season and move into playoffs.”

Early on, neither team could gain control of the match. Both committed plenty of mistakes, leading to potentially promising attacks fizzling out well before the intended destination.

About halfway through the first 40 minutes, though, Ursuline struck first. Senior striker Zayne Alayon evaded a group of Eagles defenders and slipped his shot past the Kennedy goalkeeper for a score, Ursuline’s first of the game and first in any game since Aug. 21.

“[That was a] huge relief,” Monaco said. “We’ve been talking about that for a while, just putting one in the back of the net and letting the rest fall to us. Sometimes, you just have to get that monkey off your back and move forward with it. But we were extremely, extremely excited to get that first goal in for sure.”

The Irish, invigorated by the goal and a lead, nearly added to it a minute later, when Crewe Paulin nearly capitalized on a well-placed pass by Bryce Joyce. Undeterred, Ursuline continued to put pressure on the Eagles’ defense, striking frequently up close and at a distance.

No more goals were scored in the first half, however, as Ursuline’s shots on goal were deflected or sailed high, while Kennedy’s were rare and not particularly tough for Irish goalkeeper Carson Martinucci to keep out of his net.

Just over 10 minutes into the second half, the Eagles earned their two best looks at a goal within 30 seconds of each other.

First, Ethan Love battled for and won possession of the ball on a cross into the box and fired it toward Martinucci, who managed to hit it above the bar and out of play.

Moments later, on the ensuing corner kick, Santino Esposito flew in and collided with Martinucci on a header attempt. The ball again went over the bar, though this time for a goal kick.

Kennedy had few chances as great as those for the remaining 30 minutes, and Ursuline, with 12:24 remaining, extended its lead to two goals when Paulin cashed in on an overly aggressive play by the keeper and easily buried the ball in the net.

With less than three minutes left, Dominic LaFuria earned one last shot on goal for the Eagles, but his point-blank attempt was once again saved by Martinucci.

With the loss, Kennedy dropped to 0-6-1 on the season. Aside from a 3-3 draw against Newton Falls on Aug. 18, the Eagles, who first-year head coach Brian Stiles described as “beyond” young, have been outscored 33-2 and shut out four times in their last five matches.

Stiles said only a handful of current players were on the team a season ago, and most of his players are freshmen and sophomores or those who have not played soccer at a high level before.

“Kind of our goal right now is trying to get the scores from like five goals against a game down to three goals against a game, then get it down to two goals and slowly start getting comfortable on our back end, and we can start putting more people forward, and then you can start going for goals,” Stiles said. “We’re probably not at that point yet. If we release too many players forward, we’re gonna give up a lot of goals. But they’re getting better.”

Warren JFK next plays on Monday when it visits Liberty.

Ursuline, at 2-7, not only snapped a five-match losing streak with Tuesday’s result, but it also ended a scoring drought. The Irish had been outscored 33-0 in their last five losses since beating Warren G. Harding 3-1 on Aug. 21.

Monaco’s team will now begin what he termed a “mini-bye” with no matches until Sept. 18, when the Irish travel to Uniontown to play Green.