(SAN DIEGO) What seemed to be a comprehensive victory turned into a nailbiter, but PLNU Men's Soccer ultimately held on to claim a wild 4-3 win over visiting Azusa Pacific on Saturday afternoon.
Point Loma scored two goals in each half to take a commanding 4-0 advantage, only for APU to score three quickfire goals in a seven-minute span to all of a sudden make it a game.
Despite the chaos, PLNU managed to pick up an important victory as the Sea Lions try to stay within striking distance of the top of the conference standings.
"When we dropped the Holy Names game, it put a lot of pressure on all these results," Head Coach
Phil Wolf said. "APU is obviously historically the best team. It was a must-win and fortunately we got it, but I'm not happy about all the aspects of it.
"We scored four goals and a couple good ones. I'm happy with that. If you would've told me 4-3 before the game, we had conceded nine goals in 11 games and scored 11 goals in 11 games. Then all of a sudden 4-3. It's madness.
"Obviously we were happy with the attack and it could've been a couple more for sure. Now we have to think about how to tighten it up a little bit."
Samuel Tuscano opened the scoring for PLNU in the 17th minute with a powerful left-footed strike.
Townsend Meyer looped a ball over the top to left winger
Austin Lavell, who whipped in a cross off the bounce that found Tuscano at the back post. The graduate transfer brilliantly brought the ball down with the studs of his left boot before firing his shot past the goalkeeper.
"I'm just thinking get to the back post," Tuscano said on the buildup to his goal. "I saw the ball coming across, I took a touch and the only thing on my mind was taking a shot and putting it in the back of the net."
Fifteen minutes later,
Milo Libby doubled Point Loma's advantage off a set piece. From the right corner,
Dalton Kinney whipped in a free kick in front of goal, which the APU goalkeeper fumbled, allowing Libby to smash home from point-blank range.
Early in the second half, goalkeeper
Seth Ketterer produced a wonderful one-on-one save to keep Point Loma's lead at two.
Then in the 60th minute,
Parker Scalzo seemed to put the game to bed by adding PLNU's third.
A sliding challenge by an APU defender inadvertently played a perfect through ball to Scalzo on the left wing. As Scalzo dribbled toward goal, the Cougar back line seemed to stop as the assistant referee raised his flag for offsides. However, no whistle was blown as the center referee overruled the sideline official because the last touch was from the opposition, and Scalzo continued his run before slotting it home.
Eight minutes later, Lavell added an insurance goal after a beautifully worked passage of play. Starting in their own half, the Sea Lions counterattacked and worked the ball forward through Tuscano, who slipped
Marlon Buck through. Buck then unselfishly squared a ball for Lavell to finish, as Point Loma scored a fourth goal in a game for the first time this season.
"I think we were really confident today," Tuscano said of the team's attack. "A lot of our first-time passes were working. We were able to carve out their defense and get in behind."
It appeared to be smooth sailing for PLNU until three quickfire goals from APU in a seven-minute period between minutes 71 through 78 made put the result in jeopardy.
"This is a team that has not been able to put together a full match," Wolf said of his group. "Play great, can't score. Play great, create chances, can't take chances. It would've been great to be 4-nil, done and dusted, but we have to make it interesting. We have to make it hard."
"There are little things that you have to do to be successful and we're just making it really difficult for ourselves. I'm not sure I've ever conceded three goals in seven minutes in my career, yet alone when up 4-nil."
Tuscano then almost iced the match when he hit the right post off a direct free kick, but after Point Loma conceded a third goal, the Sea Lions didn't allow another shot and held on for a crucial victory against the three-time defending PacWest champions.
"It's super disappointing, but credit to the guys who had to come back on to see the game out and shut down shop at that point," Wolf said. "I really appreciate the fact they had to do it, but it's sad it had to happen that way."
Point Loma (5-4-3 overall, 2-1-1 PacWest) now travels to take on Concordia on Wednesday in Irvine, whom the Sea Lions defeated 2-0 at home on Sep. 21.
"When you play Concordia away, you know it's a hard, hard game," Wolf said. "If you're at Point Loma and have a game against Concordia, Azusa, Fresno, they're historically the best teams. We're trying to get into that category consistently year after year."
