Staying Hot to Open Conference

Thursday, September 21

Riverside, Calif.

4:00 PM

California Baptist University

5-0-1, 1-0-0PacWest

Hawaii-Hilo

0-4-0, 0-1-0PacWest

Team	1	2	Final F
University of Hawaii at Hilo	0	0	0
California Baptist	3	1	4

Photo by: Carey Schumacher

Staying Hot to Open Conference

9/21/2017 8:33:00 PM | Men's Soccer

Box Score

By: Sammi Wellman, Director of Sports Information

RIVERSIDE, Calif. — Now that the non-conference season is over for No. 11-ranked California Baptist University, the Lancers have their minds set on a PacWest Championship. They got off to a good start Thursday afternoon with a 4-0 victory over Hawai'i-Hilo to open conference action.

The Lancers improve to 5-0-1 on the year, 1-0-0 in the PacWest, extending their unbeaten streak to six-straight games. UHH drops to 0-4-0 overall and 0-1-0 in conference.

"We told the guys that this is a new season, everyone has zero points [in conference] and there's an automatic bid this year to the NCAA tournament," said Coach Coe Michaelson. "Everyone gets to start fresh and be excited about the start of the conference season. We had to forget about the five [non-conference] games behind us and just be focused on this game and obviously we did that with the 4-0 win."

When it comes to scoring, CBU definitely knows how to find the back of the net. The Lancers lead all of NCAA Division II by averaging 4.2 goals per game going into Thursday's contest and they continued that trend once again.

Hugo Gutierrez – who leads D-II in assists – put the Lancers on the board first in the 15^th minute. After CBU drew a foul about 30 yards out, Sebastian Wiesboeck drove in a ball to the back post, connecting with Abe Placito's head. The senior headed it across the face of the goal, where Gutierrez slid onto it to put it into the net, 1-0.

UHH looked like it might break through in the 26^th minute on a breakaway, but Edgar Benitez came up with the diving stop and Abe Placito backed him up just in case.

In the 32^nd minute, Aidan Apodaca – who leads all of NCAA (Divisions I, II and III) in scoring – scored his 16^th goal of the season, converting a penalty kick that he drew with contact in the box, 2-0. Apodaca has scored in six-straight games, averaging over two goals per game.

Five minutes later, Preston Judd scored his first collegiate goal. Junior Guerra lofted a ball behind the Vulcan backline, allowing Judd to volley it over the goalkeeper's head, 3-0.

"It was the best feeling, it was amazing," said Judd on scoring his first collegiate goal. "I loved it."

Coming out of halftime with the 3-0 lead, CBU kept the pressure on, hungry for more.

It came in the 69^th minute when Judd put the final dagger in with his second goal of the game. Fellow freshman Chris Heckenberg sent in the cross, allowing Judd to head it home, 4-0.

"A lot of times attacking players judge themselves by how much they score and I think to this point, Preston has been doing that," said Michaelson. "While he scored three goals in exhibitions, he hadn't had any in our first five games and I told him not to worry about that, just focus on working hard and making the right decisions and the goals will come. Today they did. He got two goals and was rewarded for some really good play."

CBU had more chances in the final 20 minutes of the game, but UHH's goalkeeper Joshua Jasper made some crucial saves to keep it 4-0 when the final whistle blew.

The Lancers turn right around to host Hawai'i Pacific on Saturday at 3:00 p.m.

"We're playing for each other, not playing selfishly," said Judd. "If we keep that up, we'll keep winning."