(SAN DIEGO) PLNU Men's Soccer won its PacWest opener for the seventh straight season, defeating Chaminade 3-1 on Thursday afternoon.
Zack Mercieca and
Inaki Santamarina scored in the first half to give Point Loma a 2-0 halftime lead, before
Simon Sagal sealed the three points with a sensational goal in the second half to round out the scoring.
"Getting full points at home is mandatory for a conference game," Head Coach
Phil Wolf said. "I'm proud of the boys. I don't think it was the steadiest performance, but it was a solid performance overall. Hopefully we have enough in us to go again Saturday."
The Sea Lions found the back of the net in just the 14th minute to take an early 1-0 lead following a well-worked passage of play.
Building out of the back in its own right defensive corner, goalkeeper
Jeremy Caringella swung a first-time pass to
Owen Riecke. The left back Riecke then played a perfectly weighted forward ball on the ground to PacWest Player of the Week
Evan Youngflesh, who got past his defender and squared a ball across the box.
Cole Friesen got to it first and backheeled it to Mercieca, who was there at the back post to poke it home and put the Sea Lions in front.
"We seem to be creating those types of chances with balls coming across the face of goal, which is a big part of our game model and how we play," Wolf said. "We're hoping to continue doing that and hope to create some more of those opportunities in situations, but when they pull it off it's very nice to watch."
Later, Mercieca then pulled a cross back towards
Inaki Santamarina, who was brought down in the box for a Sea Lions' penalty kick. Santamarina then stepped up to do the honors and converted from the spot to make it 2-0 Point Loma.
After Chaminade got a goal back just five minutes into the second half, midfielder
Simon Sagal restored PLNU's two-goal cushion with a moment of magic in the 63rd minute.
Sagal collected the ball at the top of the box off a headed clearance and spun past his defender before lasering a left-footed shot into the bottom right corner of the net.
"It was big for Simon to take that because if it stays 2-1, you're one mistake away from a tie game, so I'm proud of him," Wolf said.
PLNU thought it had added a fourth goal later on through Youngflesh, but the goal was ruled out for a foul in the buildup after replay review following a Chaminade challenge.
"I'm happy with the three goals," Wolf said. "We'd like to figure out a way to stay more dangerous and take our possession and make it into more chances. That's probably a goal of ours and to obviously try not to leak one."
Point Loma (4-2-3 overall, 1-0 PacWest) returns to the PLNU Soccer Field on Saturday to play Hawai'i Pacific at 2:15 p.m.
"It's going to be a very tough game," Wolf said. "Hawai'i Pacific is good, so it'll be a very tough game on the weekend."
POSTGAME INTERVIEW
