SAN RAFAEL, Calif. –
Wilson Briggs scored a brace to lead Dominican men's soccer to a 2-0 victory Friday over Chaminade at Kennelly Field.
The win was the first conference victory for head coach
David Frank as a Penguin as the team moved their record to 4-3-2, 1-1-1 PacWest. Dominican outshot the Silverswords (2-3-0, 1-2-0 PacWest) 15-8 and 6-4 in shots on goal.
William Finnie made four saves for the Penguins to record his first career shutout.
Greg Natt had one of the better opportunities in the first half as he took a ball and cut between three defenders into the right side of the box and loosed a shot toward the far post in the 38th minute, but the ball went wide. Noah Mokulehua had the best chance for Chaminade in the first half with a shot from the top of the box in the 42nd minute, but
William Finnie got his fingertips on the ball to tip it over the crossbar.
With under a minute left in the first half,
Cameron Baca stepped in front of a Silversword pass and played a ball forward to Natt to start a quick counter attack. Natt then found Briggs on a through ball into the right side of the box and Briggs shot the ball inside the far post to give the Penguins the 1-0 lead at the break.
Diego Vasquez looked to add to the lead in the first two minutes of the second half as he found some room at the top of the box to loose a shot, but Michael Stafford made the save for Chaminade. Vasquez was taken down in the box in the 68th minute to draw a penalty shot for Dominican, but Stafford made a diving save to his left on a shot from Briggs to keep the Silverswords within a goal.
Vasquez weaved between defenders on the right flank and sending a cross into the middle of the box to find Briggs for his second goal to make it 2-0 in the 82nd minute. Briggs looked to make it a hat trick six minutes later as he took a ball to the center of the box and sent a strong shot off the fingertips of the keeper, but Jared Rivera cleared the ball before it crossed the line for Chaminade.
Dominican's defense was extremely strong in the second half allowing only one shot from Chaminade to pitch the shutout.
The Penguins will host Hawai'i Pacific Sunday at noon PDT at Kennelly Field. Dominican will welcome back Alumni at the game. Live stats and video will be available online.
