After falling to the Holy Names 3-1 last Thursday, the Chaminade men’s soccer team aims to turn their season around. After battling with a few of the upper half teams in the PacWest conference, the Swords are prepared and determined to pull out more wins.  The Swords will compete against Fresno Pacific on Tuesday at 12:30 p.m. at the St. Louis Field.

“For us, every game we play and every team we play against, they [opponents] are going to be competitive,” said head coach Joshua Woodard. “We’re going to come out and be as competitive as possible to see better results. I think we’ve continued to get better each and every day and that’s something I’m looking forward to continue seeing.” 

Even though the Swords have won only one game this season there are some notable bright spots.

Competing against the fourth-ranked team Hilo twice, Chaminade produced two draws on Sept. 23 and Oct. 7. The Swords faced off against Dominican – the current No. 1 team in the PacWest – and held the Penguins to just one goal on Oct. 1. 

Chaminade enters the contest with a 1-5-2 (1-2-1 PacWest) record, which is a vast improvement since last year’s 3-11 campaign.

“I think when there’s a lot of competitors going at it every single practice it’s going to continue to raise the level of play,” said freshman midfielder Owen Caba, who is leading the team with two goals and four points. “I think we need to bring that same level of intensity into the games and I think after that loss to Holy Names, we’re prepared to do that against Fresno.” 

In the practices leading up to Tuesday’s match, the Swords emphasized the need to improve their mentality during games, correcting errors faster, and capitalizing on their potential.

“I think as a team we’ve shown that we have a lot of potential,” said freshman left wing Ian Inigo, who has played in all eight games and leads the team with 11 shots. “We know what our potential is and as long as we continue to improve and start to live up to that potential we’re going to see better results.”

 The Swords now are determined to turn those draws and close games into wins. 

“We have a really young team so we’re just trying to get used to playing at that college level,” said junior striker Ryan Anderson, who has started and played in all eight games. “A big key for us is not switching off mentally and staying focused the entire game and staying on top of it. I think we’re going to start attacking more, create more chances, finish, and really just defend better. We just need to be tighter on our marks. I think once we start showcasing these things we’ll be good.” 

Tuesday’s competition will be the 10th meeting in program history. Fresno Pacific has won eight of the nine matchups.

“I honestly think the expectation is that we start winning games,” Caba said. “I think we’ve shown that we can compete with any team in this league. Whether it’s been one mistake or a couple missed chances on our side, we are as good I believe as any other team in this conference. And I think it’s time we start turning those performances into wins. That’s really the expectation for the second half of this season.”

This will be the Swords last home game before they embark on a four-game road trip in Southern California. Chaminade will return home on on Nov. 5.  to take on inter-city rival Hawaii Pacific.