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Azusa Pacific men's soccer player James Ndubueze celebrates after scoring a goal during the Cougars' 2-1 win over Fresno Pacific on Oct. 18, 2018, in Azusa, Calif.
Holly Magnuson
4
Winner Azusa Pacific APU-MS (13-1-1 8-0 PWC)
3
Concordia, Irvine CUI-MS (6-9 4-4 PWC)
Winner
Azusa Pacific APU-MS
(13-1-1 8-0 PWC)
4
Final
3
Concordia, Irvine CUI-MS
(6-9 4-4 PWC)
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Azusa Pacific APU-MS 3 1 4
Concordia, Irvine CUI-MS 1 2 3

Game Recap: Men's Soccer | | Joe Reinsch

Streak Hits 10 With 4-3 Road Win

IRVINE, Calif. -- James Ndubueze scored late in the first half and early in the second half, providing No. 8-ranked Azusa Pacific with just enough cushion to hold off Concordia for the Cougars' 10th straight win with Wednesday's 4-3 victory.

Azusa Pacific scored four goals for the seventh time this year, which includes a 4-2 win in a nonconference matchup against Concordia when the teams met in Azusa on Sept. 29.

With the win, the Cougars improve to 13-1-1 overall and remain perfect in PacWest play with an 8-0 record (24 points) and three games to play. Azusa Pacific holds a five-point edge over second-place Point Loma, which has 19 points but only two games left. One of those is a head-to-head matchup to close out the regular season on Friday, Nov. 2, in Azusa.

Concordia struck first, taking a brief 1-0 lead on Julian Font's 21st-minute header, but Azusa Pacific answered with a three-goal flurry from Arturo Astorga, Jonah Peck, and Ndubueze over the rest of the opening half to take a 3-1 halftime lead. Font scored his second goal just over two minutes into the second half, cutting the lead to 3-2, but it took Ndubueze less than two minutes to regain a two-score lead, 4-2, with his second goal of the game.

Jafet Sanchez scored in the 68th minute on a penalty kick to cut the lead to 4-3, but Azusa Pacific fended off the Eagles' attack over the final 20-plus minutes of play to hang on for the win. Concordia took three shots the rest of the game after the Sanchez PK, but only one of those required a save from Cougar goalkeeper Brendan Fix, who tallied four saves on the day.

Astorga tied the game in the 28th minute with an assist from Jonah Peck, who then scored the go-ahead goal at the 32-minute mark with an assist from Astorga. Ndubueze made it a 3-1 lead with a 44th-minute strike off a cross from Astorga, and he scored again just past the 49-minute mark for the eventual game-winner. At the time, it gave Azusa Pacific a 4-2 lead, but Concordia's PK midway through the half brought the teams back within a goal of each other for the remainder of the game.

Ndubueze led all players with six shots on the game, putting three on goal, and Gabriel Costa added three shots for the Cougars.
 

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