BOX SCORE

SAN FRANCISCO — The Dominican University of California men's soccer team rode Pedro Guevara's two goals—the second a game winner with 30 minutes left in the second half—to victory in a 2-1 win at the Academy of Art University on Thursday.

The Penguins earned a badly needed win before heading to Hawai'i for a five-game road trip that starts next week.

"It was nice to get over the hump and we're finally starting to get healthy," Dominican head coach Jon Delano said. "It's a boost, all our games have been close. It's good to get some confidence heading to Hawai'i."

Guevara got the Penguins (1-8-1/1-5-0) on the board early in the first half by netting a right-footed shot that beat the AAU keeper far post. The Urban Knights (5-7-1/4-5-1) answered quickly with their only goal from Brazer Bozlak just two minutes later.

"It was good that we got that first goal so we didn't have to come from behind," Guevara said. "When we get scored on first we get down, but today we got pumped up and felt like we'd win."

The game remained tied until Guevara recorded his team-high sixth goal of the season to put the Penguins ahead for good.

"I knew that's when we couldn't make the same mistake and as long as our defense played hard we were going to win the game," Guevara said, adding that his confidence was high after Delano encouraged him to be aggressive at halftime.

Freshman David Mendez made his first start as a midfielder in his second game back to the lineup.

"I felt a lot better than I did last game," Mendez said. "I'm pretty much at 100 percent now."

Senior captains Alec Ziegler and Ryan Vella both played 90 minutes, a good sign for a Penguin team that has struggled with injuries to key players.

The men played without their third senior captain Tim Pinella, who had to sit because of a red card the previous game, a 2-0 loss at Notre Dame de Namur October 1.

Dominican opens its trip to the islands with Hawai'i Pacific University on Thursday, October 14 in Kaneohe, Hawai'i.