SAN FRANCISCO— Dominican men's soccer set a program record Tuesday morning with a 4-1 win over Academy of Art University to extend its winning streak to six games at Paul Goode Field.
The Penguins' 6-game win streak is the longest streak in Dominican's NCAA DII era for the men's soccer program. To top that feat, the Penguins have quickly climbed the ranks in the PacWest conference to compete for a top position. In the past 20 days, Dominican (7-7-1, 5-3-0 PacWest) has moved from 11th place in the PacWest to tie for third place with Concordia University of Irvine.
The Penguins were led by senior forward
Luke Raley who scored two goals and was credited for an assist on the day. Senior forward
Arturo Carrillo Contreras netted the first goal of the game, and freshman
Khalil Means recorded the fourth goal of the game and his first of the season just before the first half ended. Goalkeeper
Ruben Raygoza earned the victory in goal for Dominican with three saves before being relieved by freshman
Alejandro Reyes in the 62nd minute.
The Penguins jumped ahead early in the game as Raley threaded the needle with a pass to Carrillo Contreras in the box to give Dominican the 1-0 lead. The Urban Knights retaliated by making their way up center field and Adrian Cekala sent a shot at goal from the top of the box, but Raygoza was there to make the save to keep ART U off the board.
Not before long, the Penguins marched into Urban Knight territory once again and senior
Matt Albert connected with Raley on a long ball over everyone's heads to lead him into the box. Raley gained control and sent a shot past the ART U goalkeeper, Davis King, to push Dominican's lead to 2-0 in the 15th minute of action.
The Penguins continued to pressure the Urban Knights and, in the 22nd minute, Raley beat his defender to the box once more, and slipped a shot past the outreaching arms of King for his second goal of the day to make it 3-0.
After entering the game for the Penguins, both
Kieran Vrklan and
Khalil Means quickly made a significant impact on the game. In the 38th minute, Vrklan received a pass up the sideline and beat his defender to the corner flag, crossed it into Means in the box and Means buried the cross in the back of the net for the 4-0 lead with seven minutes left before halftime.
Dominican and Academy of Art traded attempts throughout the second half, but neither team was able to create a rhythm offensively until the 80th minute. The Urban Knights found a seam in the Dominican back line as Gilli Kristjansson sent a cross to Adrian Cekala who chipped it over the head of Reyes to end the shutout attempt.
The Penguins return home for their final three games of the season beginning Saturday against Bay Area rival Notre Dame de Namur at 12:30 p.m. PDT. Live video and stats will be available online.
