Box Score PHOENIX, Ariz. — Playing without three starters – David Mendez, Dennis Maric, and Manny Sandoval-Gutierrez – the shorthanded Dominican University of California men's soccer produced a gritty effort yet came up on the short end of a 3-0 Pacific West Conference game against No. 16 Grand Canyon University on Monday night.

Dominican (2-9-0/1-5-0) was led by freshmen defenders Evan Myers, Fabian Valdez, and Cory Vanderpool who kept the game close against the nationally ranked 'Lopes (8-3-1/4-1-1) and goalkeeper Adam Garcia, who leads the PacWest in goals against average, 0.65 per game.

Mendez (knee) and Maric (foot) were sidelined by injuries and Sandoval-Gutierrez sat out because of accumulative yellow cards, forcing Dominican Director of Soccer Jon Delano to mix and match his lineup. But his team responded with a gritty effort and in fact spent most of the second half in Grand Canyon's half of the field pressing to score.

“We had some really good chances. We just didn't finish. I thought we had the better run of the play in the second half. Unfortunately we just didn't take care of business,” said Delano. “But I was very proud of our guys and the effort they put forth."

Freshman Kolby Mitnick and senior Rafael Garcia had two shots for the Penguins while freshmen Nuri Bon-Acosta and Victor Robles recorded Dominican's other shots. Grand Canyon had 17 shots, eight on goal, and capitalized on their chances in building a 2-0 lead at half.

“I thought we were a little bit better, but with David, Dennis, and Manny out we were playing some guys at different positions and it took us some time to get used to it,” said Delano. “In the second half, we made some adjustments and I thought we were very good. We probably controlled the play a little bit more than they did in the second half and we created some really good scoring opportunities for ourselves."

Delano lauded the effort of Ryan Shilling who, making his first start of the season, filled in admirably at right back along with Sam Vella, who started in the midfield. The Dominican coach also praised Bon-Acosta, the PacWest's Player of the Week who slipped into Mendez's spot on the field.

“It gave Nuri more touches on the ball and kept him active for longer periods of time,” said Delano.

The Penguins played the 'Lopes even for a stretch of 60 minutes. Grand Canyon has only three losses this season, all by 1-0 scores, and going into the contest led the PacWest in goals per game (2.27).

“I can't ask for anything more,” said Delano. “The important thing for us now – and I talked with the guys about this after the game – is they are starting to believe in themselves and understand that they can compete at the highest level and against a Top 25 team.  I really feel like we're maturing as a group.”

Dominican comes home to play again on Saturday, October 15 against Academy of Art University of San Francisco. Game time is 3:30 p.m. at Forest Meadows Field.