A Royal Dominance

Tuesday, September 18

Riverside, Calif.

4:00 PM

California Baptist University

5-2-1

Hope International

4-3-0

Hope International University

California Baptist

George Ionascu scores his first collegiate goal in CBU's 4-0 victory over Hope International.

Photo by: Dwain Linden

9/18/2018 6:58:00 PM | Men's Soccer

Box Score

By: Sammi Wellman, Director of Sports Information

RIVERSIDE, Calif. — Taking a break from conference action, California Baptist University kept things rolling with a dominant 4-0 victory over Hope International Tuesday afternoon.

The Lancers improve to 5-2-1 on the year, while the Royals stay at 4-3-0 since the game didn't count against their record.

"We didn't play at a high enough tempo in the first half, but second half was much better," said Coach Coe Michaelson. "It was good to get lots of guys minutes today. I thought some of the subs brought a spark."

CBU got the spark it was looking for and broke through in the 37^th minute as Caley Powers headed in a goal from the far post. After a quick give-and-go off a throw in, Oliver Bryneus passed it off to Victor Aguirre, who curled a ball into the far post. Powers got his head on the end of it and powered it across the goal and into the net to put the Lancers in front 1-0.

"Caley is a guy who is always ready to compete so I'm not really surprised he came in and got us the first goal when we hadn't been particularly good up to that point," said Michaelson.

Coming out of the break, CBU put the pressure on early, hoping for another goal.

Three minutes into the second half, Linus Mansson put a dangerous ball on frame, but the Hope goalkeeper punched it away. Two minutes later, CBU was back on the attack as Niklas Haakenstad fired off a shot through traffic, forcing the goalkeeper to make the save.

It was just a matter of time, however, as the insurance goal came in the 57^th minute to double CBU's lead, 2-0. George Ionascu took advantage of a Royal deflection about 25 yards out as the freshman took a touch and ripped a left-footed shot past the diving goalkeeper for his first collegiate goal.

"It felt very good to score my first goal in the USA," said Ionascu, originally from Romania. "It was a great game for us. We're working hard and playing very well together."

Despite the 2-0 lead, CBU didn't take its foot off the pedal.

Bryneus worked his way into the box, forcing the Royal goalkeeper to come off his line. Bryneus drew the foul, however, and Preston Judd stepped up to the penalty spot to convert the PK for his ninth goal of the year, 3-0.

Ten minutes later, Judd netted his second of the day and 10^th of the year after getting fouled from behind in the box for another penalty kick, 4-0.

The Lancers dominated the rest of the game – finishing with 30 shots on the day – to seal the 4-0 blanking. CBU's defense only allowed Hope two shots total on the day, with neither giving goalkeeper Gage Roger much trouble.

CBU has one last non-conference game on the docket, heading to cross-town foe UC Riverside for a 7 p.m. kickoff Saturday night.

"We know Saturday will be a really difficult game," said Michaelson. "UCR has played perhaps the toughest schedule in the country, so we know we need to be up for it."