BYU-Hawaii men’s soccer team found its rhythm against rival team Dixie State, resulting in a 5-0 win for the Seasiders on Oct. 4 at home. The team followed that win up with another 2-1 win on Oct. 6 against Cal. Baptist. In the game against Dixie State, Senior mid-fielder Jace Green led the Seasiders with two goals in the first half. Green’s first goal came in the opening two minutes as the center, Pawell Dregan, a sophomore from Germany, delivered the ball to Green in the box for a header goal. From there the Seasiders didn’t look back, scoring two more times in the first half, sending them into half time with a commanding 3-0 lead on Dixie St.Coaches, players and fans cheered throughout the game, ecstatic to see the team dominate at home.BYUH Head Coach Mark Davis said, “Five-nil – that’s what I’m talking about. You could just tell before the game started that we were ready to play.”Senior Sean Hungerford from Laie said, “The boys dominated, it was good to see everything come together for them.” The Seasiders controlled the ball well and played as a team, which was the key to their success.”The Seasiders Bauer and Epplette scored in the second half to seal the win and shut out Dixie State 5-0.Midfielder Garrett Gray, a junior studying business management from California, said, “It felt great to see our teammates who are such talented players score in big numbers. Our defense has been doing really well and I feel like this game was a big breakthrough for us offensively. It was a really fun game.”Talking about the second win against Cal. Baptist, Davis said, in a BYUH press release, “This wasn’t a pretty game. The field conditions were less than ideal. It started pouring in the first 15 minutes of the game and ripped the field to pieces. We fought like crazy and we ended up with three points.”Seasider Chris Pineda was named the PacWest Defender of the Week minutes before game time against Cal Baptist and proved his worth once again with seven saves to help the Seasiders remain undefeated in conference play.The men’s soccer has two conference games at home this week and will be on the road again for the second half of the month.
Writer: Trent McCullough
