Lopes down Northwest Nazarene 5-1

Grand Canyon men's soccer improved to 2-0 in exhibitions on Thursday night with a win over Northwest Nazarene. The Lopes took down the Nighthawks at GCU Stadium, outscoring them 5-1 in the first of a two-match series. The win comes just one night after GCU blanked Benedictine 9-0 in its exhibition opener.

Lopes senior midfielder Tosh Yasuda is making a major comeback after sitting out all of 2019 WAC play because of injury. He scored two goals against Northwest Nazarene after also scoring a goal against Benedictine on Wednesday, getting the Lopes' first goal of the night in both matchups.

"It was good playing under the lights, on the pitch, beautiful field conditions, beautiful weather," Yasuda said. "It couldn't get much better. I think we all enjoyed it, playing as a team and it was good to get the win."

Yasuda's first goal came in the 12th minute of the match, with an assist from sophomore midfielder Will Clark.

Captains Esai Easley, a sophomore defender, and Justin Rasmussen, a senior midfielder, teamed up for GCU's second goal of the match. Easley scored with a header in the 22nd minute, getting the assist from Rasmussen. The 2-0 GCU lead held until halftime.

Yasuda got the scoring started early in the next half, picking up his second goal early in the 48th minute. Junior forward Calvin Kissi tacked on another goal in the 64th minute, getting an assist from senior forward Rey Gaytan to put GCU up 4-0.

The Nighthawks scored their first and only goal in the 77th minute, but it was answered by Lopes freshman defender Andrew Bebbington with a goal in the 86th minute. Senior forward Marco Afonso picked up the assist on the final goal.

GCU faces Northwest Nazarene again on Saturday at 7 p.m. at GCU Stadium.

Grand Canyon University Athletics

Players Mentioned

Marco Afonso

Will Clark

Esai Easley

Rey Gaytan

Calvin Kissi

Justin Rasmussen

Tosh Yasuda

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