IRVINE, Calif. – Playing their sixth of eight straight games on the road, the Chaminade University men's soccer team put together a gutsy performance in Tuesday's matchup at Concordia University Irvine.
 
The Silverswords hung in through an onslaught of shots in their 1-0 defeat at Golden Eagles Soccer Field.
 
The 'Swords were outshot, 20-to-2 including 13-0 in the first half, but were kept in the game thanks to a season-high eight saves from goalkeeper Jonah Valmonte (Poolesville, Md./Robert Morris University/Poolesville HS), including one on a CUI penalty kick, while making other heady defensive decisions that kept them within a single score.
 
Masen Heu (Makawao, Maui, Hawai'i/Kamehameha-Maui) had Chaminade's lone shot on-goal while Michael Oelberger (Los Angeles/Butler University/Cathedral HS) had the team's other boot towards the net.
 
The 'Swords fell to 0-9 and 0-4 in the Pacific West Conference while the Golden Eagles are 5-4-1 and 1-1 in the PacWest.
 
Concordia appeared to have taken an early lead in the eighth minute when the ball, straddling the length of the goal line, was ruled to have completely crossed the plane of the goal line before the 'Swords cleared it away. However, Chaminade won a successful video review challenge, wiping out the goal.
 
CUI did take advantage of a CUH miscue four minutes later, scoring a goal off the foot of Jonathan Moreno.
 
After Concordia made a successful challenge on a handball in the 'Swords penalty area in the 49th minute, Valmonte stopped Bryan Maldonado's penalty kick attempt, preserving the one-goal deficit. It was Valmonte's second career successful stop of a PK, the other being at Point Loma on Oct. 26, 2024.
 
Chaminade kept staving off attacks with Valmonte punching out Golden Eagle crossing passes and also getting several stops on potential CUI breakaways in the second half.
 
The Silverswords conclude their four-game Southern California trip Thursday at Vanguard University.