AZUSA, Calif. — Azusa Pacific men's soccer defeated Holy Names 3-0 in PacWest action Thursday night with a pair of second half goals from David Kwinn and a third from Marco Astorga. With the win, the Cougars are now in first place in the conference with 10 points in five games as they have won three of their first five PacWest games.

Kwinn's brace was his first of the season and fourth of his career as he leads the Cougars in goals scored this season with five. Astorga recorded an assist and a goal for the second time in the last three games. Senior captain James Ndubueze played a big part in the win with a pair of assists while goalkeeper Leo Moreno recorded his third clean sheet of the season.

How it Happened: The Hawks got on the front foot in the early stages of the game forcing Moreno to record his first two saves of the night. Azusa Pacific threatened multiple times in the first 45 minutes but they were unable to put anything on target including the best chance of the half from Ndubueze. It came in the 25th minute when Holy Names gave away the ball in a dangerous area, but Ndubueze wasn't able to keep his curling effort inside the post as it missed the cage by inches.

In the second half, the Cougars came out on a mission and the scoring came from Kwinn in the 52nd and 57th minutes. On the first goal, Ndubueze used his strength to muscle a defender off the ball before driving at the Hawks goalkeeper inside the 18-yard box. Instead of going for goal, Ndubueze slotted it across for Kwinn who finished the play with a strike that found the bottom corner to give the Cougars a 1-0 lead.

Just five minutes later, Ndubueze broke free down the middle of the field on a counterattack, after playing Astorga on the wing who played the perfect through ball for Kwinn to put home his second of the game. The Cougars had caught the Hawks off guard and not only had Kwinn ahead of the pack but so was Ndubueze who kindly allowed his teammate to give Azusa Pacific a strong 2-0 lead.

After the two goals, Holy Names peppered the Azusa Pacific net with seven shots over the course of the next 20 minutes as Moreno added two more saves to his tally. But, it was the Cougars that put the finishing touches on the game with Astorga's goal in the 77th minute. Back from injury, Gregoire Diep was able to find Astorga who's rocket right-footed shot from outside the box was picture perfect finding the top right corner. The Holy Names goalkeeper had no chance as Astorga continues to shine in his first collegiate season.




Up Next: Azusa Pacific (7-2-2, 3-1-1 PacWest) continues their five-match home stand when they take on Dominican on Saturday.  Opening kickoff at the Cougar Soccer Complex is scheduled for 3:00 p.m..