(SAN RAFAEL, Calif.) PLNU Men's Soccer closed out its season on Saturday with an emphatic win, taking down first-placed Dominican on the road by a 2-0 scoreline.
The result means Point Loma finishes the season in a tie-for-third in the PacWest standings, as the Sea Lions played spoiler to Dominican's postseason chances.
All the Penguins needed was a tie to earn the outright conference title, but PLNU's win allowed Biola to claim a share of the PacWest championship and receive the conference's automatic bid into the NCAA Regional by virtue of a tiebreaker.
"I am happy for the boys as they ended the season on a high note," Head Coach
Phil Wolf said. "Some really good performances from a ton of our players and especially our seniors who put in an incredible effort in the last match of their careers."
After a scoreless opening half, Point Loma scored twice after the break through
Christopher Burgos Lara and
London Lombana.
Burgos Lara scored his first collegiate goal in the 63rd minute, taking an internal pass from
Samuel Tuscano before surging forward on the dribble. Then from 25 yards out, the freshman launched a shot that had just enough power on it to slip through the goalkeeper's hands and trickle across the goal line.
Lombana then made it two with a simple tap-in from an
Austin Lavell cross.
Tuscano hit a brilliant diagonal switch ball over-the-top to Lavell, who chested the ball down toward goal. Lavell's touch was long enough to entice the goalkeeper to come out, but Lavell's speed got him there first to square a pass for Lombana to knock home.
Dominican outshot Point Loma, 16-8, but only held a slight 5-4 advantage in shots on goal.
Seth Ketterer made five saves between the pipes for his PacWest-leading eighth shutout of the season. He finishes his Sea Lion career ranked second in program history with 15 career shutouts.
"Although the season did not turn out the way we wanted, we are very thankful for our seniors and all they have invested in our program," Wolf said. "Congrats to Dominican for an incredible year and their first trophy."
Point Loma concludes its season with a record of 9-6-3 overall (6-3-1 PacWest).
