SAN RAFAEL, Calif. –
Gianluca Guimaraes gave Concordia a lift in the second half against Dominican on Wednesday as the two PacWest Conference foes matched up in Northern California.
After a scoreless first half, both offenses came to life after intermission.
Dylan Graham and
Bryan Maldonado converged and managed to steal the ball from the Dominican defense in the 53rd minute. Graham quickly fed Maldonado with a nifty pass and even though the goalie made the stop on Maldonado's immediate shot, the ball caromed back towards the middle of the pitch. Guimaraes was the first to charge forward and meet the moment, and after a couple dribbles, he unleashed a beautiful shot to the top left of the goal. The ball missed both the Dominican keeper and one of his teammates, who tried to no avail to stop the inevitable as the shot was true to its target.
Concordia grabbed the lead 1-0, however, the Penguins responded quickly with two corner kicks their very next trip down the field. That led to the equalizer by Adrian Garcia who curled it in from the corner and we were knotted back up at 1-1.
Concordia's connective passing was on display in another sterling sequence in the 81st minute.
David Garcia hugged the right sideline and fed
Andy Jun who immediately found a cutting Maldonado down the flank in a smooth tic-tac-toe sequence. Maldonado went straight to goal and drew a yellow card on a Penguin to set up a set piece just outside the box. CUI captain
Jonathan Moreno took a swing but it would up as one of multiple shots that were blocked by another player in the ensuing chaos and the Penguins avoided any further trouble.
In a game where the box score will show that the two squads had pretty similar overall statistics, Dominican did have an advantage on corner kicks.
In the second half alone, the Penguins generated five corners to zero for the Golden Eagles and that helped spur a late surge for the hosts.
Dominican scored twice in the final six minutes to capture a 3-1 decision.
CUI goalkeeper
Leo Ripert made his second career start and collected three saves.
CLICK HERE for the updated PacWest men's soccer standings
CUI continues its road trip up north at Jessup this Friday afternoon.
The last home match of the year will be on Halloween as CUI welcomes their rivals from Biola to town on Senior Night.
CLICK HERE for the full CUI men's soccer schedule
