COSTA MESA – Men's soccer suffered its first Pacific West Conference loss, in a 2-1 defeat to Hawaii Pacific on Saturday morning. The Lions came out with a high-quality first half but could only calibrate one goal, with a spot kick from
Ashton Ta-Tran giving the sophomore his first career goal and handing the Lions a 1-0 halftime lead. The Sharks were the better side in the final 45 however, outshooting VU 7-4 and controlling possession and match tempo, which paid dividends amid the merciless 90+ degree weather at VU Soccer Field.
The Blue and Gold slip to 3-6-2 and 2-1-1 in the PacWest to close the four-game conference homestand. Hawaii Pacific close out a potential season-defining four-game road trip with upsets at PLNU and now Vanguard to improve to 4-4-3, 3-1-1.
What Happened? The Lions honored the seniors prior to their 10:15 kickoff, celebrating the careers of
Mario Floriano,
Leonardo Villacorta,
Sidney Dina,
Anthony Medina,
Alex Martinez and
Anthony Hernandez-Perez.
VU almost celebrated with a goal inside the first 44 seconds, after their high press won the ball in the HPU penalty-area, opening a chance for
Robert Ronco. The graduate student speared straight toward goal from the left side of the box, and pierced his shot to the near post, as Eduardo Marin made his first save of the day.
Xavier Alcantar continued the early stream of chances, picking the pocket high up the pitch and connecting across the box to earn a free kick from distance. His shot was beamed over the bar, and was paired with VU penalty claims for contact prior to the awarded set-piece.
Ronco reeled in the final clear cut chance of the early VU advances after a clever counter attack and one-two punch with
Zander Zill put Ronco on his way down the left-hand side of midfield. Ronco sped away from his man with a one-on-one chance, but the attempt to squeeze past Marin at the near-post was covered bottom left to keep the game 0-0.
The Sharks did manage to grow into the game from that stage and establish a more confident foothold of possession. But VU's 9-3 shot advantage kept the visitors' key chances at a premium throughout the period.
VU's opening goal was crafted by
Tyler Williams who skipped away on a clean breakaway with one Shark hot in pursuit. Williams took a good first touch upon entering the box, while the second hobbled slightly out of stride. The sophomore recovered with a silky left-footed chop across his defender to place the ball on his right foot and open the angle for the shot, when he was clotheslined on a poorly time challenge to hand VU the penalty kick. Ta-Tran was VU's prime candidate to take, and buried the effort with power, sending Marin the wrong way in the process.
Williams pulled two concluding chances to close the half, missing top left and requiring a stop from Marin on an off-balanced shot at the edge of the 18 which spun to the bottom right corner.
Hawaii Pacific were the frontrunners from the opening whistle of the second period, pinning VU back deep within their half in the first three minutes. The Lions nearly gave up a penalty of their own in the 47
th minute, instead committing the foul right at the edge of the box near the left side of the arc. HPU's Olle Ridelius, ripped the ball away from the four-man VU wall, giving
Caleb Johnson no chance, but the effort blazed past the crossbar.
HPU had their equalizer two minutes later, on a ball worked to the right wing. Paul Norberg was given space to cross and sliced a low front post ball toward VU's net. An HPU attacker's run toward the near post was all it took to put off the VU defense, as the Lion backline, watched the cross skip through the line and in find its way into the goal.
At 1-1 the game's tension completely overflowed with a cluster of fouls quickly following the goal and a yellow card which left both teams dissatisfied. With a stress-riddled finish on the cards, VU tried to speed the game up and strike on the counter attack, but HPU had the much more effective remedy, slowing down the game and monopolizing possession to keep VU on the chase.
The Lions best chance to grab a second goal came from a corner kick in the 62
nd minute from the left side. The high-bending cross from Alcantar made its way to
Emmanuel Gonzalez at the back post, but the center back could not snap his header on frame, splashing it against the outside of the side netting.
The Sharks broke through eight minutes later, with a goal manufactured from the same exact angle. They started their move from the left, then switched the field back out to right wing where Norberg was waiting. The Sharks used the overlapping run of Jackson Palladino to get the low cross in at the near post, and it was Rideilius who sniped a toe at it to poke a well-taken finish to the top left corner. It was his fourth goal of the season, and the final piece to handing VU a 2-1 loss on senior day.
What's Next? VU will try to pick up the pieces on the road at CUI, on Saturday October 10 at 6:30 pm.
