OAKLAND, Calif. – The Chaminade University men's soccer team showed a glimpse of what the future may look like.
The Silverswords exploded for four second-half goals en-route to a 4-0 win over Holy Names Saturday at Merritt College Stadium. All four goals were scored by newcomers.
Freshman
Curtis Coburn scored the first two goals of his college career while fellow freshman
Jeron Cunningham also found the back of the net. Junior transfer
Yoshinori Tamukai added another goal for the 'Swords.
The four goals in a half tied for the second-most in program history. The feat occurred two other times, the last coming in October 2009 at Academy of Art.
The victory gave head coach
Jayson Abe his first collegiate win as Chaminade improved 1-3 on the year and even their Pacific West Conference mark to 1-1. It also snapped a 10-game road losing streak dating back to November 2014. It was also two years to the day when the 'Swords last won a game on the Mainland which came against Dominican in September 2014.
The Hawks fell to 0-4-1 and 0-2 in the PacWest.
The 'Swords were the early aggressors, taking nine first-half shots without success as the contest was scoreless at the half.
But that changed just three minutes into the second half. Coburn took a pass from
Mitchell Fasolo and found the back of the net to give Chaminade a 1-0 for his first career goal. Fasolo also got his first career point as a 'Sword on the assist.
The Silverswords, who've held leads in two of their first three contests only to be thwarted down the stretch, would make sure that would not happen again. Less than five minutes later, Cunningham, the former all-state first team player at Mililani, gathered in
Micah Mokulehua's pass to beat Hawks' goalkeeper Juan Nieves for his first career goal and a 2-0 'Swords lead. Mokulehua's assist also gave him his first and his team-leading fifth point of the year.
Chaminade continued to attack the net. Just three minutes and 30 seconds after Cunningham's score, Tamukai, a former Kalani High School Falcon, scored his first CUH goal.
The 'Swords then stamped their third consecutive victory over the Hawks with Coburn's second goal of the game at the 60
th minute.
Tyler Braunthal was credited with the assist.
"I thought the team made some good adjustments in the second half," Abe said. "We played some of our best soccer of the season within that 15-minute span."
Bernd Buescherhoff made three saves and picked up the win which was the fifth in his career, tying him atop the Chaminade wins list with Darren Smith. Nieves made nine saves in taking the loss for Holy Names.
The Silverswords face Academy of Art in San Francisco on Monday.
