HONOLULU – Dominican men's soccer fell 2-1 to Chaminade on Tuesday to open its road trip at Saint Louis Field.
The Penguins (3-4-1, 0-2-0 PacWest) had an advantage on shots (20-14) and shots on goal (9-7) but the Silverswords (1-3-0, 1-0-0 PacWest) made the most of their opportunities.
Chaminade was able to open the scoring in the 29th minute as Owen Caba took a ball down inside the left side of the box and crossed it back towards the front of the near post where Owen Malone was able to leap and redirect the cross into the back netting for the 1-0 lead. Dominican tried to counter quickly as
Thomas Van Schoor was able to find some space in the box in the 32nd minute sending a ball to the lower right corner of the goal but Kili Chappell was able to make the save to preserve his lead.
Dominican withstood some early offensive pressure from the Silverswords to begin the second half before inflicting some of their own. The first chance came in the 56th minute as
Lex Bernier met a cross into the center of the box with a head back towards the right post but a defender was able to get a toe on it and deflect it wide of the net. One minute later, Bernier took the ball down the field and sent it over to
Dimani Mathlin who poked it forward to Grande who sent the ball low and inside the back post for the 1-1 tie.
Dominican continued to press as
Anthony Stainer sent a nice ball over the top to Grande in the 61st minute and Grande tried to get the shot off the bounce but was unable to control it like he wanted with the shot going wide. Bernier then found himself on another long ball in the 62nd minute going one-on-one with the keeper but Kili Chappell was able to get in front of the attempt for the save. A foul inches outside of the box gave Chaminade a dangerous free kick as La'akea Gonsalves placed it perfectly towards the back post were Kala'i Duncan rose up and headed the ball into the net for the 2-0 lead in the 70th minte.
The Penguins looked to battle from behind once again as Bernier crossed a ball into the center of the box to the head of
Nick Van der Waart van Gulik in the 75th minute as he headed it inside the left post but the linesman ruled that it did not cross the goal line. The Silverswords dropped back into a defensive formation and kept Dominican's attack away from any further dangerous attempts as they held on for the win.
The Penguins will look to end their winless streak on Thursday as they take on Hawai'i Pacific at Waipi'o Peninsula Soccer Stadium in Waipahu, Hawai'I with kickoff set for 4:30 p.m. HST.
