HONOLULU – Even though the spring 2021 season was a throwaway year for all fall 2020 sports, finishing without a win in four tries still left a sour taste for the Chaminade University men's soccer team.
The opening match in their traditional fall season helped ease some of those frustrations as the Silverswords bounced in-city rival Hawai'i Pacific University, 2-0, in a non-conference match at Saint Louis Field.
Reilly Minigutti (Brooklyn, N.Y./Richmond International Academic and Soccer Academy/Dallas Jesuit, Texas) and
Brison Kim (Honolulu/Kalani) each found the back of the net to account for both Chaminade goals to give second-year head coach
Paul Shimomoto his first career win.
The victory by the men's soccer team completed one of the most successful single days in recent memory. Chaminade teams went a perfect 4-for-4 in Saturday competition with women's soccer downing Central Washington in Idaho and women's volleyball taking both matches including a shocker over 11th-ranked MSU Denver in Washington state.
With time winding down in the first half at the 43rd minute,
Colin Roemer (Cologne, Germany/Barton CC/Wirstschaftsgymnasium Westerburg HS) lobbed a pass over the Sharks defense to Minigutti to the right of the box. Minigutti gathered the ball, pirouetted and blasted a left-footed rocket towards the upper-right shelf for his first career goal. Roemer got the assist, the fifth of his career to tie Colton Gallt for third all-time.
The game remained a precarious 1-0 'Swords lead until the 89th minute when HPU keeper Jeremy Zielinski deflected Kim's shot attempt. However the ball caromed right back to Kim who then eluded Zielinski and powered a shot from 15 feet out for the insurance goal.
Brandon Yasue (Honolulu/Kaiser) made two stops to earn his first collegiate win while Zielinski took the loss.
Kim took a team-high five of Chaminade's 12 shots while HPU fired seven.
The Silverswords are next in action on Thursday, Sept. 16 when they host Hawai'i Hilo in another non-conference contest at Saint Louis Field.
