CUH men’s soccer 3-game winning streak ends

The Chaminade Silverswords had a record-breaking start to the season, tallying up 5 wins in the last 8 games. But on Saturday, CUH played with a lot of heart, but was never able to find its rhythm against the PacWest Conference’s top team, Dixie State. The Swords were defeated 4-1 on St. Louis Field.

“Defensively as a team all season long the defense has kept us in games,” said Jayson Abe, head coach of the Silverswords. “As a team they play with a lot of heart and put forward a lot of effort and really give it their all. Today I think we made some uncharacteristic mistakes and unfortunately some of the goals we conceded were goals that we typically wouldn’t against other teams.”

The Saturday game started and both teams were played great offensively and defensively. They created open spaces and exerted high pressure. Neither of the teams was able to produce much at the start of the game, but in the 16th minute Dixie State’s Hunter Ketterer headed in an unexpected long throw into the penalty box for a 1-0 lead. Chaminade continued to play with grit and intensity the rest of the half, but Dixie State knocked in another score in the 30th minute to go up 2-0.

“There were moments especially early and late in the first half were we really put the pressure on them, and it was disappointing to walk away from halftime without getting a goal, because I really thought we were the better team late in that first half,” said Abe.

In the second half, Chaminade tried to find its way back into the game and get the momentum by getting an early goal. Dixie State continued its play and never allowed the Silverswords to find their tempo and ended up winning 4-1. Guilherme Aires, a senior at Chaminade, scored the only goal for CUH in the 74th minute.

“All in all I think the boys put in the effort,” said Mitchell Fasolo, senior and captain of the Silverswords. “We couldn’t quite find the tempo and the way we want to play today, but you know you are not going to win them all. You’re not going to get all the bounces in the game.” 

Fasolo also said that the team has to move forward and focus on the next challenge.

“Now we are just moving forward preparing for our rival game on saturday against HPU and get the win and keep this momentum that we had after our 3 game winning streak,” he said. “Hopefully we can get back on the W side of things and continue to break records here at Chaminade.”

With the win, Dixie State (10-3) improves its top record to 8-0 in the PacWest Conference. The Silversword record is 5-5 overall and 5-3 in the PacWest Conference. This is their best season opening of all time, and it has already tied the school record from 2014 with 5 wins in the conference. The Silverswords are currently No. 4 in the PacWest Conference. This is the best placement in the school’s history.

The Silverswords’ next game is on Saturday, Oct. 22, against rival Hawaii Pacific University (2-5-4 overall, 2-3-2 PacWest) at 12.30 p.m. at Atherton Field in Kaneohe.