HONOLULU – Since beating Hawai'i-Hilo on Thursday, Chaminade men's soccer head coach
Zach Kingsley talked to his team about winning the so-called "PacWest Hawai'i Championship" if they could pull out a win over BYU-Hawai'i in the season finale.
Mission accomplished.
The Silverswords on Saturday achieved their greatest turnaround in program history, downing BYU-Hawai'i on a penalty kick by
Nicolas Ferro in the 43
rd minute then held on in the 1-0 win at Saint Louis Field. The goal was Ferro's team-leading eighth of the season.
Not only did the Swords (6-10 overall) build on their program-record for single-season wins – which doubled their previous season-high set in 2009 – the Silverswords also improved to 5-7 in the Pacific West Conference and going 3-0 against their fellow PacWest Hawai'i schools. The Silverswords also swept the season series from the Seasiders (6-6-5 overall, 6-2-4 PacWest) after defeating them in Laie in a non-conference game back in September.
Swords keeper and reigning PacWest Defender of the Week
Rene Mejia made three saves to even his record to 3-3 while earning his second shutout. Chris Pineda (6-5-4) took the loss for the Seasiders.
The game's intensity was evident with the teams combining for 27 fouls, six yellow cards and a red card.
BYUH took 14 shots to Chaminade's 11 and had three saves to the Swords' six.
The game also marked the final contest in the careers of Chaminade seniors
Matt Davies,
Trevor Freeman,
Tyler Kochi and
Dayton Sato.
