PLNU Athletics

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SAN DIEGO - All great things must come to an end, but it felt like that ending came a little too quickly for the 2017 Point Loma men's soccer team, which put together the best season for the Sea Lions in over 20 years. No. 6 seeded Cal Poly Pomona spoiled the end of the season for the No. 2 seeded Sea Lions with a goal in the 62nd minute to win the second round of the NCAA West Regional, 1-0.
 
The goal came on a corner kick from Sergi Monso when he found Nadeer Ghantous streaking straight at the far post. Monso sent the cross over the defense and Ghantous rose above the crowd to head the ball into the near corner of the net for the lone goal of the match.
 
Point Loma would get two more very good looks on goal but were unable to find the equalizer. The first was a cross by Jacob Moreno to Tim Siegfried on the back post but the goalie was able to slide over and get a foot on it to block the shot. With just four minutes left in the match, Mitch Wheelon gave the Sea Lions another great look when he rolled a pass all the way along the complete front of the goal, but no one was able to get a toe on the cross to finish the shot.
 
Team Records
Point Loma (14-3-2), Cal Poly Pomona (16-5)
 
The Turning Point
The Broncos' goal shocked the Sea Lions and took them a little while to recover, and by then there were just minutes remaining in the contest. CPP had a corner kick from the right side that PLNU thwarted, however, it resulted in another corner for the Broncos, this time from the left side. This additional corner kick allowed Cal Poly Pomona to call the specific set-piece play which resulted in the game-winner.
 
Wolf's Words
On the pacing of the game: "The game played out exactly the way we wanted to. We wanted to play at a high tempo to wear them down because they had just played on Thursday."
 
On Cal Poly Pomona: "I want to give credit to Cal Poly Pomona. They found the goal and got the result."
 
On CPP's goal: "They found their goal on a free kick after running a nice play. They caught us out of position a bit."
 
On PLNU's offensive opportunities: "You have to take chances to win in this game. We got to some great spots all day long, but you need the right pass to the right run and we were just a little off on in front of the goal."
 
On his team: "I thought we were really good today and probably deserved better. I hope this can be another step towards this program continuing in the right direction."
 
On the Sea Lion seniors: "I am really proud of all our seniors. They invested so much and were able to see the changes in the program to where it is now. We will keep pushing in their honor."
 
On hosting the NCAA West Regional: "When I took the job back in 2012 we were a long way from being able to host anything like this. This weekend was a bit of a dream come true for me personally, and for the program. To go from 2-16 my first year to hosting a regional five years later."
 
Scoring Summary
61:09 - CPP GOAL: Nadeer Ghantous (Sergi Monso) [CPP 1, PLNU 0]
 
News and Notes
> This was Point Loma men's soccer first-ever appearance in the NCAA West Regional
> Cal Poly Pomona will be advancing to the third round of the NCAA Championships for the third straight season
> The 14 wins in 2017 match the school record for Point Loma (1998)
> PLNU outshot CPP 12-7 and had more corner kicks (11-3)
> The loss snapped the Sea Lions' school-record 16-match unbeaten streak
 
Up Next
This completes the 2017 season for the Sea Lions.