SAN DIEGO - Facing their third opponent in six days, Tuesday's contest looked like a very daunting one but an early goal by senior Daniel ten Bosch inspired the whole Point Loma men's soccer team and helped lead them to a 3-1 win over Hawaii Pacific on Tuesday, Oct. 6.
 
Ten Bosch's goal in the 10th minute allowed the Sea Lions (4-3-1, 3-1-0 PacWest) to win their third straight match and go over .500 for the first time since winning their opener. This was the first loss in PacWest play for Hawaii Pacific (4-3-1, 2-1-1 PacWest).
 
"Statistically that first goal is everything," said Point Loma head coach Phil Wolf. "It changes games and what teams try to do. Every time we have gone up this year we have got a positive result so we just have to keep doing that."
 
Point Loma held fast to that early 1-0 lead and added an insurance goal by Indiana Fuller in the 62nd minute. He took a long pass from Tyler Allen, challenged both defenders to get into position and then fired a right footed shot from 12 yards out for the score.
 
That turned out to be a much needed goal as Hawaii Pacific scored in the 70th minute to cut the Sea Lions' lead to 2-1. However, Point Loma's defense kept them out of the net the rest of the way and Manu Montal tacked his team-leading fifth goal in the 87th minute when he intercepted a bad pass from the HPU keeper and neatly dribbled around him for the score.
 
"In this game if you take chances you win games," Wolf said. "That is just the reality. We didn't have tons of chances today but the ones had we took."
 
PLNU was outshot in the match 13-9, and goal keepers Michael Lambert and Avrin Yakou both played big minutes for the Sea Lions. Lambert started the game and made three saves, including a great one in a 1v1 situation midway through the first half. But he was hurt in the 31st minute making a great play at the mouth of the goal and Yakou entered the game. He played the final 59:20 of the match and made three saves.
 
"Michael and Avrin both made some big saves for us," said Wolf, "and the whole back-four did very well too."
 
PLNU helped make up for their tired legs by going deep on its bench, something that really impressed coach Wolf.
 
"The great thing about this team is that we used some of our numbers again today and tried to grind through the results," he said. "We are doing a good job using the whole group and the guys are quality."
 
Coach Wolf was also very pleased his team found the way to earn another victory at home.
 
"Good programs find a way to keep winning," Wolf added. "At this level all these teams we are playing are good. I am pleased for the guys. You always want to protect home field and that is a big deal. To beat APU, CBU and HPU in the course of six days is an amazing feat by these guys."
 
It won't get any easier for PLNU as they travel to face PacWest preseason favorites Fresno Pacific (6-1-2, 3-0-1 PacWest) on Saturday, Oct. 10 at 7:30 p.m.