(SAN DIEGO) Two first-half goals were all PLNU Men's Soccer needed in its PacWest home opener, as Point Loma defeated Azusa Pacific, 2-0, on Saturday.
The win builds off last weekend's 3-2 victory at Concordia in PLNU's conference opener to keep the Sea Lions unbeaten to start PacWest play.
"The start of our conference schedule is Concordia away, Azusa at home and then Biola away, which are all really hard games," Head Coach
Phil Wolf said. "So, after three games we're going to know a heck of a lot about ourselves."
In a back-and-forth opening segment to the match, PLNU goalkeeper
Tanner Wrzeski made a huge kick save to keep the game level before the Sea Lions scored two goals just over five minutes apart to take control.
"I think it was the biggest moment," Wolf said of Wrzeski's save and the opening goal not too long afterward. "Instead of going 1-nil down, you go 1-nil up. There's the game. But they had plenty of chances and we were fortunate to get out of there with a result."
The Sea Lions took the lead in the 23rd minute from the penalty spot after
Kaelele Fernandez played a ball over-the-top to a surging
Marlon Buck, who was clattered into by the opposing goalkeeper.
Juan Salazar then stepped up to take the spot kick, sending the keeper the wrong way to break the deadlock.
Milo Libby quickly doubled Point Loma's advantage with a towering header at the back post, as
Austin Lavell's curled free kick found the 6-foot-5 center back to head home from just outside the corner of the six-yard box.
Not too long afterward, APU received a straight red card in the 32nd minute, making the visitors' task all the tougher.
"Without the red card, I think it could have gone either way," Wolf said. "With the red card, obviously that gave us a huge boost. But they're a good team and hard to play against, and they were today."
Point Loma had a handful of other chances to add a third goal, with
Elijah Langford's sliding, outstretched effort in the second half clanking off the left post, just inches away from scoring.
In the end it didn't matter though, as PLNU's defense didn't concede a goal to preserve the victory, earning its third shutout of the season.
"I think there were moments where we were in complete control and it looked like we were doing all the right things, and there were moments that felt very chaotic and like they could score a goal at any time," Wolf said. "So we have to get better at that."
Point Loma (6-3 overall, 2-0 PacWest) now hits the road for a month, with its next four matches played away from The Point. That stretch begins on Saturday at Biola, with kickoff scheduled for 4 p.m.
"We've kind of looked at our schedule in tiers," Wolf said. "Three games with Concordia, Azusa and Biola, which are historically some of the best teams, you chunk those off. The Hawaii trip is set on its own, and then you have the end of the season.
"That's kind of how we're viewing it. We have one more thing to do in this tier and then we will think about Hawaii."
