No. 17 GCU Scores Three Second-Half Goals, Beats Notre Dame de Namur

Monday, September 28

W 3-0

4 p.m.

Grand Canyon

Notre Dame de Namur

No. 17 GCU Scores Three Second-Half Goals, Beats Notre Dame de Namur

9/29/2009 12:03:20 PM | Men's Soccer

M Soccer

9-29-09

No. 17 GCU Scores Three Second-Half Goals, Beats Notre Dame de Namur

Junior forward Harvey Martinez (Miami, FL/Coral Gables), freshman midfielder Nathan Wasson (pictured, Chandler, AZ/Hamilton) and freshman forward Kyle Ciliento (Phoenix, AZ/Pinnacle) scored second-half goals to lead the Grand Canyon University (GCU) men's soccer team to a 3-0 victory over Notre Dame de Namur yesterday at Belmont, Calif.

Martinez's goal, his first of the season, came at 56:30 off an assist from Ciliento. Wasson's goal, also his first of the season and first of his college career, was at 73:24 off a pass from redshirt freshman midfielder Chris Green (Phoenix, AZ/Thunderbird). And Ciliento's goal, his eighth of the season, came less than two minutes later at 75:17 off a ball from sophomore midfielder Miguel Benavides (Salem, OR/Sprague).

Ciliento leads the Pacific West Conference in points (18), points per game (2.25), goals, goals per game (1.00) and game-winning goals (4).

The Antelopes, who moved up to No. 17 in the nation and remained at No. 3 in the West region in this week's NSCAA Divison II National Rankings, released today, improved their record to 6-1-1, 3-0-0 in the PacWest. The Argonauts suffered their first conference loss of the season and now are 2-8-0, 2-1-0.

For the game, Notre Dame de Namur outshot GCU, 14-11, and had a 6-3 advantage in corner kicks.

'Lopes junior goalkeeper Ben Paneccasio (Sydney, Australia/Roseban K College) made three saves and recorded his conference-leading fourth shutout of the season. Paneccasio also ranks second in the PacWest in goals-against average (0.72), save percentage (.812) and shutouts per game (0.38), and is fourth in saves (26).

'Lopes junior midfielder/forward Juan Mendez (Scottsdale, AZ/Horizon) and sophomore defender/forwardNick Sykes (Boise, ID/Mountain View) were named to the PacWest Men's Soccer Weekly Top 10 Honor Roll for games played Sept. 21-27. Mendez scored the game-winning goal at 95:18 to give GCU a 2-1 overtime win at Academy of Art University on Saturday, and Sykes had a goal at 84:52 to force overtime in that same game.

GCU plays Dominican University (2-4-2, 0-1-1) tomorrow at 4:30 p.m. at San Rafael, Calif.

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