HONOLULU – It is eerie to think how the fortunes of Chaminade University soccer has fared against Notre Dame de Namur over the years.
Both men's and women's teams had identical series records against the Argonauts entering Sunday (0-14-2). Both games played in Belmont, Calif., last year went into overtime.
And the similarities continued in 2019.
Just hours after the Silversword women celebrated their first-ever victory over the Argos, the men's squad followed suit on Sunday at Saint Louis Field with their first win over NDNU. Strangely enough, the scores of both were 2-1. And both rallied from a goal down to post come-from-behind wins.
Reece Hambly (Birmingham, England/Scottsdale CC/Hagley HS) converted on a penalty kick in the 77th minute to give the Silverswords their first-ever win over NDNU, the longest tenured mainland school in the PacWest and a member since 2006.
Chaminade, making its conference opener, snapped a two-game losing streak and improved to 3-2 on the season. Notre Dame de Namur fell to 4-5 and 1-2 in the PacWest.
NDNU led 1-0 at halftime thanks to a penalty kick goal by Rueben Sanabia. Chaminade answered a minute into the second half. Off a
Quinton Brown (El Paso, Texas/Franklin) corner kick, the ball went towards the front of the net where teammate
Curtis Coburn (Huntington Beach, Calif./Huntington Beach) got a piece of the ball off his shoulder. NDNU goalkeeper Isreal Mendoza couldn't control the ball which found the foot of
Noah Mokulehua (Waimanalo, O'ahu, Hawai'i/Kaiser) who then booted the ball into the net for the game-tying score.
From there, the score remained deadlocked until Hambly's winner.
Michael Stafford (Honolulu/Iowa Western CC/Kalani HS) kept the Argos out of the net in the second half while Chaminade's defensive backfield disrupted the Argos attack in the final 12 minutes.
Stafford made two saves in facing nine shots to pick up the win. Mendoza took the loss for NDNU.
Both Hambly and Mokulehua got their second goals of the year. Hambly's PK was also the fourth attempted by the 'Swords this season after they did not have a penalty kick attempt last year.
The Silverswords return to the Saint Louis Field pitch on Saturday when they face Hawai'i Pacific University in a rematch of the non-conference encounter on Sept. 26, won by the Sharks. Kickoff is set for 2:30 p.m.
