GCU rides Tasouris to title game

Friday, November 9

Seattle, Wash.

5 p.m.

Grand Canyon

11-8-0

Air Force

15-4-0

Grand Canyon

Air Force

Photo by: Joe Whiteside

11/9/2018 7:44:00 PM | Men's Soccer

Box Score Postgame with Coach Hyndman Postgame with George Tasouris Photo Gallery

Lopes goalkeeper makes 9 saves, backs early Afonso goal

By: Josh Hauser

SEATTLE — The Grand Canyon men's soccer team is one win away from an NCAA tournament berth.

Recent trends continued for the Lopes in a 1-0 defeat of No. 13 Air Force in Friday's WAC Tournament semifinal. GCU won its fifth straight match. The Lopes shut out their opponent for the second straight time and the third time in four matches. GCU improved upon a perfect mark against top-25 teams this season, moving to 5-0.

And freshman goalkeeper George Tasouris made a career-high nine saves for the second consecutive match.

"We knew that every single one of us should be switched on for every moment of the game," Tasouris said. "I didn't do it by myself. We all did it. Nobody could have done it without each other's help. I just want to say I'm proud of my teammates.

"We're having fun. We're enjoying the game."

While Tasouris and his defense did the work on one side of the ball, an early goal from sophomore Marco Afonso was all the offense the Lopes needed.

In the seventh minute, senior Alex Ramirez delivered a throw-in down the line to freshman Bert Wilton, who fought off a defender for possession. A deflected ball found the feet of Afonso who snuck the ball past the keeper with defenders quickly converging. For Afonso, it was his third goal of the season.

It took quite the defensive effort to hold the nation's second-highest scoring team quiet for the final 83 minutes and protect the 1-0 lead. But Tasouris and the back line were up to the task.

"This is a great performance on our part again to get another shutout," said GCU head coach Schellas Hyndman, who claimed his 498th career victory. "Our goalkeeper George Tasouris was fantastic today. He made some brilliant saves. Our defense played well. Everybody on the field gave everything they had, and they needed to."

Not only did the Lopes (11-8) hold the Falcons (15-4) scoreless in Friday's match, the Lopes held Air Force scoreless through 180 combined minutes of action this season. The Falcons have only been shut out on three occasions this season, two of them coming at the hands of the Lopes in Air Force's past two matches.

The Falcons mounted several furious attacks in the waning moments, but Tasouris made clutch save after clutch save, including a header with 21 seconds remaining.

The Lopes knocked off the tournament's top seed to advance to the WAC Tournament final, where they will take on No. 6 seed San José State. Kickoff is set for 2 p.m. (Phoenix time) on Sunday on the WAC Digital Network.