GCU Extends Unbeaten Streak to 11

Saturday, October 2

GCU

5:45 p.m.

Grand Canyon

BYU Hawai'i

Pat Perkins

10/2/2010 9:33:22 PM | Men's Soccer

By: Joel Horn

The Grand Canyon University men's soccer team defeated BYU-Hawaii 4-3 tonight at the GCU Soccer Field. In doing so, it improved its season record to 7-0-1 overall, 6-0-0 in the Pacific West Conference and extended its unbeaten streak to 11 games going back to last season.

The Antelopes are in the first place in the PacWest, one game ahead of Hawai'i Pacific (6-1-0, 5-0-0), their opponent in home matches on Monday and Wednesday. Both matches kick off at 5:45 p.m. The Sea Warriors rallied to defeat Dixie State 2-1 tonight in rainy St. George, Utah.

"HPU has always given us some great games," Head Coach Petar Draksin said. "In Hawaii or in Phoenix, they always come to play us. And I believe in my heart that Monday night we have to show up, and our concentration and work ethic have to be very high. It's going to be an exciting game."

GCU had a 2-0 lead in the 47th minute of tonight's game on the strength of goals by sophomore forward Kyle Ciliento (Phoenix, AZ/Pinnacle, Saint Mary's College of California) and junior midfielder Cordero Young (Orlando, FL/Central Florida Christian Academy, Tyler Junior College). Ciliento's goal, his conference-leading 11th of the season, came on a penalty kick in the 34th minute. Young's goal, his sixth of the year, was set up by Ciliento. Young pushed the ball ahead and passed it to Ciliento, who drew the defender and passed it back to Young, who found the back of the net.

The Seasiders came back and tied the game with goals in the 67th and 68th minutes. Junior midfielder William Barber scored on a penalty kick and senior forward Eric Lowe scored an unassisted goal.

The Antelopes proved their mettle by taking the lead on a goal by senior forward Pat Perkins (Bremerton, WA/Bremerton, Olympic College) in the 71st Minute. It was Perkins' fifth goal of the season and came on a great ball from junior midfielder Miguel Benavides (Salem, OR/Sprague).

In the 82nd minute, however, BYU-Hawaii tied it again on a penalty kick by senior midfielder Viktor Bezhani, who missed Thursday's 4-0 loss to GCU because he was issued a red card on Monday.

Ciliento scored the game-winner 49 seconds later. He was on the far post and received a corner kick from Young. He drilled the ball into the left side of the net.

The 'Lopes had a 10-5 advantage in shots in the game, as well as a 5-3 edge in corner kicks. A total of 16 fouls were called, 10 of them against GCU.

"Tonight was a great example and an eye-opener for us that you can beat a team 4-0 in one game and the next game gets tougher," Draksin said. "In soccer, 2-0 is a good score to have. but it's also a very dangerous score because once an opponent scores one goal it lifts their energy and they feel like they can get a second goal to tie it up. That's exactly what happened. They did score their second goal.

"For BYU, they were a different team from Thursday to Saturday. On Thursday, we had it under control. Tonight, we didn't. We had to really fight and come back to win the game. The most disappointment about the three goals we gave up is that we talk about not getting fouls in the defensive third. We gave up two fouls and it cost us two goals. Their other goal was just a nice job by the young man who scored.

"For our guys, I was extremely happy and excited about the character that we showed by responding by scoring a third goal after they tied it 2-2, and then when they scored a third goal we came back and scored our fourth. That's character."

Box score

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