IRVINE, Calif. – Dominican men's soccer struggled to start the game falling 2-1 on a foggy Thursday night to Concordia University Irvine at Eagles Field.

Junior midfielder Maxwell Ward scored the first goal of his Penguin career, while senior goalkeeper Ruben Raygoza made seven saves. Miguel Pena recorded a brace for the Eagles with goals in the 24th and 27th minutes.

CUI controlled the pace of play in the first half as Dominican struggled to maintain possession as the Eagles got shots on goal in the 10th, 11th, and 13th minutes but Raygoza was there to turn them away. Elijah Amadin then took a ball towards the left corner and sent a high cross into the box where Miguel Pena flicked a header behind him and into the net for the 1-0 Eagle lead in the 24th minute. Pena then took advantage of a slip and fall by a Dominican defender to take a ball streaking toward the net where he put a right-footed shot off the right post and into the net for the 2-0 lead.

The Penguins were able to find their footing early in the second half as Maxwell Ward took a ball down the left flank and sent a hard shot at Andre Flores who made the save. The ball though bounced back to the feet of Aboubacar Cisse who passed it back out to Ward and this time Ward finished near post to cut the lead to 2-1 in the 51st minute. The Eagles pulled Flores shortly after the goal and Kyle Miller entered for the final 32 minutes of action as they sought to slow the Penguins' attack. 

Each team was able to get some quality chances off of set pieces by Raygoza and Miller made strong saves to keep their nets clean over the next 10 minutes of action. Fog rolled onto the field late in the game causing some footing problems for both teams and limiting the scoring opportunities as the Eagles held on for the narrow victory.

Dominican continues its Southern California trip Saturday as it takes on Biola at 5:30 p.m. PDT at Al Barbour Field.