Box Score SAN RAFAEL, Calif. — Freshman Nuri Bon-Acosta tallied his first two goals of the season and teammates David Mendez and Sam Vella scored on penalty kicks on Monday as the Dominican University of California men's soccer team defeated California Maritime Academy 4-1 at home in a non-conference game.

The Penguins (2-7) outshot the Keelhaulers (3-2) 31-12 to post their second consecutive victory.

“It's just another game for us and wins are what we want and wins are what we're going after. To be able to get one today is most important to us,” said Dominican Director of Soccer Jon Delano.  “It was good to get Nuri on the scoresheet. His actions in the attacking third were with the intent to score a goal. That's something mentally we've been talking to him about.”

“It's a weight off my shoulders,” said Bon-Acosta, a Marin Catholic High School product from San Rafael who was second on the team in shots attempted. “I was seeing the ball a lot more. I like that.”

The Penguins completely dominated the first half, outshooting Cal Maritime 18-4, yet they came out of it with a 2-1 lead. Bon-Acosta, one of nine freshmen who started the game for Dominican, scored his first goal with an assist from Mendez. That goal came less than five minutes into the contest and the Penguins pressed for more, but got only one – on a handball-in-the-box penalty kick by Mendez with 10:11 in the half.

Dominican had 14 more shots in the first half and five more corner kicks than the Keelhaulers but Cal Maritime, with seven upperclassman in their starting lineup to none for Dominican, persisted to earn a goal. The back line of Vella, Cory Vanderpool, Evan Myers, and Fabian Valdez, with excellent work by freshman midfielder Dale Howard, had limited the Keelhaulers to one shot for the first 43 or so minutes but the visitors got three quick ones off before David Tucker scored on his own rebound after Dominican goalkeeper Erik Anderson stopped the first two.

Anderson had an incredible save on a free kick by Cal Maritime's Aharon Huff in the second half when the Penguins put the game out of reach. They reassumed control of the game early in the final 45 minutes. It resulted in the team's third goal and Bon-Acosta's second. It began with a corner kick by Kolby Mitnick that Vanderpool on the far side headed toward Bon-Acosta, who headed it into the goal for an all-freshman play.

The final Dominican goal was set up when Mendez was taken down in the box. Vella took the resulting penalty kick and netted his second goal of the season with 17 minutes remaining.

“We were very good in the first half with possession. I thought in the second half we got away from it a little bit,” said Delano. “Our theme is as we progress and move forward and try to win more games, we want to keep the ball… It's a learning moment for us that even when the game gets stretched out, we need to continue to stick with what we're good at.”

Dominican leaves this week for a two-game Pacific West Conference road trip to Utah and Arizona. The Penguins play Dixie State College on Saturday at 6:00 p.m. Pacific time then visit Grand Canyon University on Monday at 8:00 p.m. Pacific time.