HONOLULU – The Chaminade University men's soccer team dropped a tough 3-0 decision Saturday to their intercity rivals, Hawai'i Pacific University, Saturday at Saint Louis Field.
The loss dropped the Silverswords to 0-10 on the season and 0-7 in the Pacific West Conference. The Sharks improved to 6-4-1 overall and 4-2-1 in the PacWest, keeping them within striking distance of conference leader Dixie State.
HPU struck first as Mario Garcia made a crossing pass to Sven Koening who tapped the ball into the net at the 18-minute mark.
Then in the 38
th minute, Javier Risco Garcia made a touch pass in his own territory and found Josch Cuerten at midfield past the Chaminade defense. 'Swords goalkeeper
Rene Mejia raced out of the box to challenge Cuerten from 35 yards away from the net. Cuerten sidestepped Mejia and with no one between him and the goal, found an easy path to pay dirt for a 2-0 HPU lead.
Erik Kemsies ended the scoring with a penalty kick in the 75
th minute.
After being out-shot 7-1 in the first half, the 'Swords increased the attack in the second, out-shooting the Sharks 7-4.
Nicolas Ferro attempted two shots while
Lukas Pousset and
Mitchell Fasolo each had one shot on goal.
Mejia made three saves for Chaminade before being replaced by
Bernd Buescherhoff in the 77
th minute due to an injury.
Jesse Kunitomo got the win for HPU, improving to 3-0.
Despite the rivalry between the two Honolulu adversaries, there was only one caution called, the least amount between the two schools since October 2011.
Chaminade returns to action Monday when the team faces Holy Names at Saint Louis Field. Kickoff is slated for 12:30 p.m.
