Undefeated season continues in postseason

Thursday, April 15

Las Vegas, Nev.

11 a.m.

Grand Canyon

8-0-0, 7-0-0

Seattle U

6-4-1, 4-2-1

Seattle U

Grand Canyon

Photo by: Lucas Peltier/WAC

4/15/2021 4:05:00 PM | Men's Soccer, Paul Coro

Box Score

Moeller, Logan score as GCU shuts out Seattle U in WAC Tournament semifinal

By: Paul Coro

LAS VEGAS – Some teams view the postseason as a chance for a fresh start. The Grand Canyon men's soccer team just wants a continuation.

GCU remained undefeated with a 2-0 WAC Tournament semifinal win against Seattle U, putting the top-seeded Lopes in the championship game for the first time since their 2018 NCAA tournament team. GCU (8-0) will face sixth-seeded Air Force (6-4-1) at 1 p.m. Saturday at UNLV with the conference's NCAA tournament automatic bid at stake.

The 16th-ranked Lopes recorded the program's fourth consecutive WAC Tournament shutout by cracking a back-stacked Seattle U defense. An early goal from GCU freshman forward Maximilian Moeller and a first-half red card put pressure on Seattle U until a late-game goal by Lopes sophomore midfielder Hugo Logan sealed the win.

"I thought we performed well, considering that they were sitting back the whole game," GCU head coach Schellas Hyndman said. "You get frustrated. You get anxious. At the end of the first half, we gave them some really good chances. We were not playing our best soccer. From the start of the second half, we were dominating."

Seattle U (6-4-1) used a five-man back line to hold off the GCU offense, but the Lopes broke through in the 21st minute off a corner kick. GCU senior forward Justin Rasmussen sent the ball into the box, where junior midfielder Marios Andreou headed a bouncing ball wide right to senior midfielder Tosh Yasuda in space.

Yasuda fired it back into the box, where Moeller redirected the ball with his right foot for his team-leading sixth goal of the season and a 1-0 lead.

"Tosh wanted to shoot and said it was a pass," Moeller said, laughing as Yasuda passed by and asserted that it was a pass all the way.

"I wouldn't say it was an easy goal, but you have to make that. I was really happy after the goal and there was a lot of confidence in our game after that."

That only grew five minutes later when the Redhawks drew a red card for a non-ball slide tackle into junior midfielder Alexis Canales, who left the game briefly for a shin injury.

Down a goal and a man, Seattle U still managed counterattack chances to keep up its threat. In the 39th minute, GCU junior goalkeeper George Tasouris was knocked to the ground on a free kick entry. In the fallout, Seattle took a shot on the goal's short corner from wide right, but Tasouris had recovered into position and slapped the ball out of bounds.

Tasouris, the goalkeeper on three consecutive 2018 WAC Tournament shutouts, preserved the 1-0 lead on the ensuing corner kick. The ball made its way through traffic for Seattle senior Alex Acton-Petronotis to send a header that Tasouris knocked away as it headed for the left side of the net.

"That could've been the save of the game for us," Hyndman said.

Lopes sophomore defender Pedro Mondragon also headed away a free kick into the box in the first half's final seconds. GCU only outshot Seattle U 6-4 in the first half and had the same number of corner kicks (two).

"Let's see if we can put them under pressure," Hyndman told his team at halftime.

The Lopes, ranked sixth nationally in the NCAA Ratings Percentage Index, have allowed three goals in the past six games with Tasouris helped by a defensive line of Mondragon, senior Ariel Aguas and juniors Esai Easley and Alejandro Fernandez Alcaide.

The Lopes outshot the Redhawks 10-2 in the second half, putting GCU right at its 16-shots-per-game average that ranks sixth nationally. A header by senior forward Marco Afonso went high. Rasmussen put a shot off the crossbar and Logan's rebound shot was stopped, but GCU was wearing down Seattle U to set up the second goal.

Moeller took an inbound pass on the left side and crossed the ball to sophomore midfielder Charles Noyelle, a Tulsa transfer making only his third Lopes appearance as Yasuda's late-game relief. Noyelle sent the ball back to the middle for Logan, who beat the charging goalkeeper on the left side of the goal for a 2-0 GCU lead in the 80th minute.

Logan's first two goals of the season have come in the past two games.

"It couldn't happen at a better time really," Logan said. "They made it hard by sitting on the low block, but we had a good team talk at halftime and I think the instructions paid off in the second half. I think we just went and tried to kill it as soon as possible. It lasted a little bit longer than we wanted it to, but we got the result in the end."

"Any time you get a win and a shutout, it's a big statement," said Hyndman, the retiring coach who was assured another game after career win No. 511.