HONOLULU – Dominican men's soccer scored three times in the second half and had four different players find the net Tuesday afternoon as it opened the Hawai'i road trip with a 4-1 victory over Chaminade at Saint Louis Field.
The Penguins (5-4-4, 4-1-1 PacWest) have caught fire since entering conference play as they have won four of their last five PacWest matches. Chaminade fell to 0-12-1 overall and 0-7-1 in the conference. Dominican put eight of its 13 shots on goal, while
Colin Nestor made four saves.
Jake Kazlauskas finished with a goal and an assist for three points, while
Sebastian Jaral,
Anthony Stainer and
Norman Tellez each scored once.
The Penguins threatened early after quickly countering off a turnover. Kazlauskas flicked the ball over a defender into the path of Jaral through the middle, but goalkeeper Jonah Valmonte closed the space and kept Jaral's attempt from finding the net in the 10th minute. Jaral made the most of his next opportunity as a Chaminade pass back went awry in the 16th minute, allowing Jaral to collect the ball behind the defense. He moved into space near the top of the box and bent a shot inside the left post for his sixth goal of the season and a 1-0 Dominican lead at 15:03.
Dominican continued finding space in transition.
Howard Cooper joined one counter as a trailing runner in the 26th minute and moved into a shooting lane before forcing Valmonte into a diving save to his right.
Sharod Williams nearly doubled the advantage in the 37th minute. Valmonte came sliding out to break up a through ball, but the rebound fell back to Williams, who struck it first time toward the open goal. A recovering Chaminade defender was able to get in the way and deflect the attempt out of danger. The Silverswords were reduced to 10 players just before halftime when Mykah Harris received a red card at 44:39, sending Dominican into the break with both a 1-0 advantage and a man up.
Chaminade generated the greater early pressure after halftime despite playing short-handed, but Nestor made his first save in the 50th minute and the Penguins eventually found their second goal in the 65th. Kazlauskas played a ball forward from midfield toward
Anthony Stainer, and a sliding Chaminade defender tried to poke it back to Valmonte before Stainer could arrive. The pass lacked enough pace, allowing Stainer to run onto the ball, dribble around the goalkeeper and finish into the empty net for his second goal of the season.
Rolando Gonzalez nearly added another on a quick counter in the 80th minute after
Griffin Brophy sent him forward into space, but Valmonte won the 1-on-1 battle to keep the margin at two. Brophy helped create Dominican's third goal less than two minutes later.
Benjamin Southern won the ball in the defensive half and sent Brophy down the left side. The freshman pushed the ball past a defender, hurdled the ensuing sliding challenge and drove into the left side of the box before cutting a pass back toward the middle.
Norman Tellez collected it near the top of the 8-yard box and finished for his third goal of the season and a 3-0 lead at 81:15.
Chaminade answered 70 seconds later on its best strike of the afternoon. Oliver Horgan collected the ball 26-yards from goal and drove a left-footed shot into the upper-left corner, just under the crossbar, to cut the deficit to 3-1. Dominican restored the three-goal margin in the 88th minute. Following a quick corner,
Lucas Flores dribbled along the end line and pulled the ball back toward a wide-open Kazlauskas in front of goal. With Valmonte displaced by the initial action, Kazlauskas buried the finish into the back of the net for his team-leading seventh goal of the season and the final 4-1 margin.
Dominican continues its Hawai'i road trip Friday against Hawai'i Pacific at 7 p.m. HST.
