AZUSA, Calif. -- The No. 1 ranked Azusa Pacific men's soccer team, is now perfect through its first 14 games of the season as they defeated Chaminade 3-1 Saturday afternoon. The Cougars continued their excellent season and honored the four seniors playing in one of their final games at home before the game. The Cougars scored the first three goals of the game before conceding one late.
"I think we really dominated the entire game," senior goalkeeper Nathanael Linquist said. "I really like the way our team has come together like a family, we never doubt each other, one person makes a mistake and we build them up and not tear them down."
The Cougars started fast as they got the scoring started in the 7th minute. Sophomore defender Isaac Bawa, who was the hero of the overtime win earlier in the week, scored his second goal of the season after getting into the attack from the back line. Left back, Jesse Echeverria connected with Bawa with a nice give-and-go at the top of the box that put Bawa in behind the defense.
Azusa Pacific didn't score the rest of the half, but started the second half even quicker than the first. Junior midfielder Renan Gomes found some space at the top of the 18-yard box and unleashed a left-footed strike that found the side netting. The goal allowed the Cougars to double their lead in the 46th minute and was Gomes' second goal of the season.
Just over seven minutes later, the Cougars struck again. Junior forward James Ndubueze scored his team-leading 11th goal of the season, with a right-footed strike into the corner to put the Cougars up 3-0.
"I thought we did some good stuff," head coach Dave Blomquist said. "We were a little bit more ready for a complete game today, and we scored a couple of nice goals so, overall it was good stuff."
This was the fourth consecutive game the Cougars have had 20+ shots in a game and is their 7th game of the season with 20+ shots. Azusa Pacific dominated possession in both halves but did allow a goal late in the game. A penalty in the box allowed the Silverswords to score their only goal of the game in the 71st minute.
Azusa Pacific will stay at home and take on cross-town rival Biola as a part of the Cornerstone Cup this Tuesday, November 5th. The men will kick things off around 7:30 p.m. after the women's game which is set to start at 5 p.m.
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