SAN RAFAEL, Calif. – Dominican men's soccer rode a dominant second half to draw 1-1 Sunday afternoon with University of Hawai'i at Hilo at Kennelly Field to remain unbeaten.
The Penguins (5-0-2, 0-0-1 PacWest) finished with 25 shots and 12 on goal while the Vulcans (3-5-1, 1-3-1 PacWest) had 17 and 8, respectively. Senior goalkeeper
Ruben Raygoza led the Penguins with seven saves, while Michael Harre made 10 saves on the other end to earn the draw.
The Penguins had several early chances led by pressure from
Diego Grande and
Thomas Van Schoor placing three balls on frame in the first 10 minutes, but Harre made several impressive saves to keep the net clean. Alexander Hernandez-Herbach helped give the Vulcans the early 1-0 lead as he kicked a chest-high bouncing ball off a corner into the back netting in the 18th minute.
The Vulcans had several more chances following the goal, but this time it was Raygoza who made three spectacular saves to keep the deficit at 1-0 heading into the break.
After some early chances for the Vulcans, it was all Penguins in the second half led by several chances from senior midfielder
Dylan Finley. Finley looked to have the equalizer in the 72nd minute as he beat the keeper and put a ball towards the center of the net, but a defender cleared the ball off the goal line to keep UHH in the lead. One minute later, Finley once again found some space in the box and blasted a ball towards the lower-right 90, but Harre was there to make the save. Finley finally found the equalizer in the 76th minute as Van Schoor took a ball down the right side and crossed it back into the box for Finley who put it home.
Freshman midfielder
Alexandre Bernier then took over for Finley as he continued to find room on the top-left corner of the box, forcing Harre to make a diving save in the 78th minute, before narrowly missing on another attempt in the 79th minute.
As the game headed to extra time, Bernier had the first opportunity for the golden goal for the Penguins in the 95th minute but Harre once again went low to push the ball aside and the Penguins were offside on the follow-up shot. Senior midfielder
Roberto Garcia then tested Harre on a free kick sending as he bent a ball over the wall but Harre punched it over the crossbar. Luca Lippert nearly sent UHH back to the islands with a win as his free kick in the 106th minute went off the crossbar.
Dominican will hit the road to take on Point Loma Nazarene University on Thursday at 3:30 p.m. PDT at PLNU Soccer Field.
