Hawai'i Hilo knocked off the defending co-champs Biola, thanks in part to Christian Souza's goalkeeper work. Point Loma's Marlon Buck came off the bench for two scores in the Sea Lions' victory over Chaminade and Westmont continued their impressive PacWest debut season with a 3-1 win over Azusa Pacific.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Point Loma's Marlon Buck, F, Grad, 6-2, 170, Vienna, Austria
Marlon Buck scored twice after getting the call to come off the bench during a 4-1 Sea Lion win over Chaminade. Buck played just 45 minutes and had only two shots, but made them both count. After a scoreless first half, Buck entered and got Point Loma on the board with a goal in the 58th minute and later added the fourth Sea Lion score in the 87th minute. The second-year Sea Lion, who played previously at Barry University, now has four goals on the season and two assists—all off the bench.
DEFENDER OF THE WEEK
Hawai'i Hilo's Christian Souza, GK, Sr., 6-0, 170, Kapolei, Hawai'i
Hawai'i Hilo had a huge home win over defending PacWest co-champ and NCAA regional participant Biola, 3-1. Christian Souza played all 90 minutes in goal and had six saves on the afternoon. That helped the Vulcans improve to 6-5 overall and to 3-2 in PacWest play, good currently for nine points, tied with three other teams. Souza, a fourth-year Vulcan, has a 1.33 goals against average and has 51 saves on the season. The Hawai'i native has a 5-4 record in the goal.
TEAM OF THE WEEK: Westmont Warriors
Westmont continued their very impressive PacWest debut with a 3-1 win over Azusa Pacific. The Warriors improved to 3-0 in conference play with the Homecoming victory and to 5-1-3 overall. Brady Highfill had another solid effort in the goal, allowing just one score and stopping five shots. Braeden Pryor had a goal and an assist, and Westmont also got scores from Barrett Goodman and Connor Lynch. Westmont built a 3-0 lead before the Cougars scored a late goal in the final minute to get on the board. "I thought it was a great result," said Westmont's head coach Morgan Cathey. "Great results sometimes come with great performances and sometimes not. I thought today the result matched the performance. I thought our guys created a lot of very good chances in the game." Earlier this season, in a non-conference match, the Cougars and Warriors tied, 1-1.
PACWEST NEWS AND NOTES: Westmont, Point Loma, Hawaii Pacific and Hawaii Hilo all won last week decisively by at least two goals…Dominican has a slight lead in the conference standings with a 3-1-1 mark (10 points) followed by Westmont at 3-0 (9 points), Point Loma at 3-1 (9 points), and Hawai'i Hilo at 3-2 (9 points)…Dominican's Nico Flores scored both goals in a 2-2 non-conference tie with future PacWest member Menlo…Academy of Art's Jaiden Brooks had eight saves in a 2-2 tie with Fresno Pacific…Lucas Ribeira had both of FPU's goals in that same deadlocked match…Colby Lee had a goal and an assist in UH Hilo's 3-1 win over Biola…The Sharks spread the wealth in their win, with four different players scoring goals…In Point Loma's 4-1 win over the Silverswords, Marlon Buck had two goals (see above) and PLNU's other two scores fell into the category of "own goals."
RECORD BOOK WATCH: Academy of Art's Gilly Miller is just outside the PacWest career top 20 with 13 assists. He needs 15 to make the list ... Chaminade's Brandan Yasue has 174 career saves, 13th on the PacWest ledger. Next spot on the rung is 176.
LOOKING AHEAD: As we head into the second half of PacWest play, Point Loma, Biola and Westmont continue action in Hawai'i while Concordia travels to Azusa during the first part of the week. On Saturday, there's more games between SoCal teams and the Hawaii schools, while Academy of Art travels to Dominican and Fresno Pacific is at Concordia.
