SOCCER (M)

8/30/10 - Royals Outlast Mariners in Season Opener

Written by Tim Gooszen

Carson, CA- Playing in the shadows of Southern California’s center for soccer, the Home Depot Center, Hope International Men’s Soccer opened their 2010 season with a strong 2-1 win over Marymount College on Monday night.  Sophomore Matthew Howard scored the equalizing goal and collected the assist on the Royals’ game winning goal that was scored by Sophomore Billy Monnier.

A sluggish start by the Royals (1-0) playing in their first game of season, exhibition or real, culminated in the Mariners (1-1) scoring in the 23rd minute.  Ylber Mehmeti found the back of the net by putting back the rebound of his own shot off the post.

The goal seemed to wake up the Royals as a team and less than seven minutes later they cashed in the game tying goal off a corner kick.  Senior Perris Rowan served up the ball out of the corner that found the head of the 5-9 Howard who out jumped the Mariners 6-3 goalkeeper Marcos Topolos to knot the score at 1-1.

As the match ran from the 40th minute into the 41st minute, the Royals ran a counter attack to perfection. Senior defender Jon Castro controlled a ball out of the air and connected with Rowan on the right side who found the feet of Howard at the top of the box.  Howard in turn played a ball into the left side of the box that found Monnier in stride who with just two touches found the opposite side netting.

Marymount tried to answer right after the break, earning a corner kick 17 seconds into the second period and making Sophomore Jake Brown record two of his four second half saves in the first nine minutes of play resuming.

But the defensive backline of Castro and fellow Senior Adrian La Farge, along with Sophomores Austin Lane and Brady Hansen, used to their speed to deny the Mariners from firing off really any type of dangerous ball the rest of the evening.

Brown finished the night with a total of 6 saves.

Director of Soccer Joe Lurker commented, “As our first game of the season without benefit of a scrimmage, we struggled at first but eventually found it.  After potentially missing out on postseason play last year due to an early season tie, this is a big win against a good side at the beginning of the year.”

The Royals will have four days to recoup from the very physical match against the Mariners.  HIU will next play up in Northern California at Menlo College in Atherton on Saturday with kickoff coming at 4:00 pm.

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