IRVINE, Calif. – Point Loma collected its fourth shutout victory in a row, beating Concordia 2-0 with one goal in each half on the road in a non-conference match Wednesday night under the lights.
 
With the win, the Sea Lions have improved to 4-2-1 on the season, while Concordia now drops to 2-4-1 before both teams turn their attention to conference play later this week. The last time Point Loma had four shutout victories in a row was in 2017, and all four of those wins were by the same score, 1-0. In total, Point Loma had eight shutout wins in a row that season, going 6-0-2 during that run as they went on to qualify for the NCAA postseason.
 
"It was a tale of two halves," head coach Phil Wolf said. "The first half, I thought we were quite good. We scored early, which has been our MO this year. It was good to get that early start. We scored again early in the second half, but then the game kind of got away from us, so we have to tighten up some things. But to come get a 2-0 result at Concordia; I'll take that every day."
 
The first goal was scored by Teague Anderson in the ninth minute, which was his second goal of the year. Matthew Abangan cleared the ball out of the box into the Eagles' defensive half. Concordia settled the ball but miscommunicated on a pass that was stolen by Anderson. He dribbled to the right to the top of the box and shot into the top-right corner of the goal, scoring the first goal of the match.
 
"He was pretty dangerous all night and he just unleashed one early on," Wolf said. "It hit the back of the net with such force. He is a top player and it was great to get off 1-0. It makes such a big difference against a team like Concordia."
 
The second goal wasn't until the second half, but it happened in a similar way. This time Parker Scalzo was the one to intercept a pass in the Eagles' half of the field. He passed forward to Corey Lundeen, who dribbled into the box and was tackled from behind leading to a penalty kick. Lundeen took the kick himself and shot low to the left side, while the goalkeeper guessed right leading to the second goal of the match.
 
"It was a nice transition moment, going from defense to offense," Wolf said. "Parker broke through and Corey went to shoot and he got clipped from behind. Generally, I don't like when the player that got fouled takes the penalty, but he wanted it and he took it nicely."
 
Seth Ketterer got his third save of the season, recording five saves in the win. Once again, the Sea Lions were outshot in a shutout win with the Eagles taking a total of 21 shots. However, the defense weathered the storm, allowing only five of those shots to be on frame and all five of those attempts were saved by Ketterer.
 
"We ask our whole group to defend, so it's not just the back four," Wolf said. "They're all working hard and of course Seth made a ton of saves last game. I know he had several tonight as well. He's a top goalkeeper and the guys are working hard in front of him. Four in a row including Fresno Pacific and Concordia is a job well done."
 
Ketterer now ranks first in the PacWest in shutouts with three, first in saves with 29, first in save percentage at 82.9, and first in goals against average at 0.96 per 90 minutes. In other words, he now leads the PacWest in every single goalkeeping statistic for the 2021 season.
 
"We got to reduce the shot count for sure," Wolf said. "We are still conceding too many shots, but I don't think a ton of them have been dangerous. Seth has made some great saves, but a majority have been fairly routine. We knew when we got him that he was a top goalkeeper, so we are excited to have him between the posts."
 
In the PacWest standings, Point Loma is now tied with Azusa Pacific, which earned a 1-0 win over Hawai`i Hilo for its first three points of the season. Both teams will play on Saturday as Point Loma returns to its home pitch to face Academy of Art at 2 p.m. The Urban Knights will play tomorrow night at Biola to start their trip to Southern California.
 
"There's not much of a break in our league," Wolf said. "Azusa Pacific hasn't lost a game in two years. We are going to have to continue to put performances together all season to have a chance in the end."