AZUSA, CALIF - Azusa Pacific hosted Cal State San Bernardino under the Friday Night Lights this evening in a non-conference match up.  After a tough stretch of games for the Cougars, they faced yet another worthy opponent in the Coyotes of San Bernardino but fell a bit short, 0-1. Goalkeeper Aidan Hines was the man of the match for the Coyotes with 8 saves including a penalty save in the 11th minute taken by Gregoire Diep of the Cougars. Although the Cougars dominated possession and outshot the Coyotes, even with just 10 men, the Coyotes held on to get the away victory. "These pre-season games showed us tough competition and I like the way our team has stayed together through adversity… we now have to respond and get a result moving forward." said head coach Dave Blomquist. 

How it Happened: Azusa Pacific shot out of the gate quickly by pushing the Coyotes defense back to begin the game. Marco Astorga, Luis Solis and Diep shined early on but found it difficult to unlock the defense of the Coyotes. It was a tough blow for the Cougars as they had to sub off Forward Tim Siegfried after he picked up a right foot injury. Siegfried returned for a possession but was no longer able to carry on .The first real chance of the game came when Hanes delivered a poor ball from the back that fell at the feet of a pressing Astorga, after a quick spin, Hanes caught the leg of Astorga and awarded the Cougars a penalty kick. It was up to Diep to deliver from the spot but Hanes guessed correctly in going to his right and with a diving save, blocked Diep's penalty effort. The Coyotes were able to keep the Cougars attack at bay in the first half to keep things level going into the break. It was a highly competitive first half with 3 yellow cards and over 10 fouls in just the first 45 minutes of play.

In the second half, play started to open up and both teams looked more daring to have a go at goal. Azusa Pacific started the second half strong in the first ten minutes but everything took a turn when the head referee called a handball on Cougar defender Fritz Oestreicher, which allowed the Coyotes to score off a penalty kick. Blomquist was pleased with the team's togetherness following the goal saying, "I really liked that the guys stayed together, they had a lot of energy going forward we just weren't able to convert."

The game's momentum shifted once again when a double yellow was shown to Isaac Balderrama in the 67th minute. After a string of corners and set piece opportunities it was Hanes and company staying strong at the back to keep the clean sheet for San Bernardino. The Cougars were not able to find the equalizer with a man up against the Coyotes and suffered their third defeat in a row by a score of 0-1. 

Up Next: The Cougars travel down to La Mirada, Calif. for a non-conference match up against rival Biola on Wednesday, September 21st.  Azusa Pacific will be back at the Cougar Soccer Complex on Saturday, September 24th for a non-conference match against Point Loma.