HONOLULU – The Chaminade University men's soccer team got back on the winning track with a 2-0 win over Academy of Art Tuesday at Saint Louis Field.
Ruben Taks (Vught, The Netherlands/UNC Penbroke) and
Nick Kraus (Torrance, Calif./South) accounted for the goals as the Silverswords won their first Pacific West Conference match of the year, improving them to 1-2-1 in the conference with a 2-3-1 overall mark.
The Urban Knights fell to 3-4-1 on the year and 2-2 in the PacWest.
Chaminade's defense against ART U was also stellar, allowing goalkeeper
Bernd Buescherhoff (Steinfield, Germany/Gymnasium Lohne) to face just seven shots for his first clean sheet of the season.
Micah Mokulehua (Waimanalo, Hawai'i/Kaiser) set up the match's first score, sending a pass from the left angle to Taks who then fired the game-winner from 15 yards out in the 11
th minute for this first goal of the year.
The score remained 1-0 until the 51
st minute when
Makoto Shoji (Okinawa, Japan/Rio Hondo College) pushed a perfect through-ball from 30 yards out to Kraus who beat a defender and chipped a shot passed diving ART U reserve keeper Kevin Mendez for insurance and his second goal of the season.
The win also gave head coach
Jayson Abe his seventh career victory to become the program's all-time winningest coach.
The 'Swords embark on a four-match road trip to Southern California starting Saturday at Concordia University Irvine. It will be a Chaminade-Concordia theme with women's soccer and women's volleyball also in action the same day on the CUI campus.
