Senior defender Jamarko Washington is one of eight seniors who played their final soccer game as an Azusa Pacific Cougar on Thursday in the 0-1 loss to the Fresno Pacific Sunbirds.
Courtesy: Holly Magnuson
Azusa Pacific’s men’s soccer went into Thursday’s game against Fresno Pacific with the 2-3 loss from Oct. 30 hanging over their heads. Despite the Cougars getting four good shots on goal, none could find the net as they fell to the Sunbirds 0-1 in the NCCAA West Regional championship game on Thursday, Nov. 21.
The two PacWest teams finished with the same amount of points, but Fresno Pacific won the tiebreaker due to the Sunbirds victory over the Cougars in their only matchup of the season. After winning the West Regional championship, the Sunbirds will now head to Kissimmee, Fla. for the NCCAA Men’s Soccer National Championship during the first week of December.
Of the four shots on goal the Cougars dealt, two were near-misses: one in which senior midfielder Trenton Titus headed a ball off the crossbar and the other being a miss off a breakaway from sophomore forward Keyran Kelly. The other two shots came from senior defender Garrett Mehrguth and sophomore forward Keenan Armbrust in the second half, but both were stopped by the Sunbirds’ senior goalkeeper Fabian Rangel.
The Sunbirds kept the pressure on all game, firing 15 shots and three shots on goal. The score was 0-0 after the first half, but 10 minutes into the second half, Sunbirds’ senior forward Bruno Pessoa fired a shot that was blocked by Cougars’ junior goalkeeper Chip Cox. However, the Sunbirds’ freshman midfielder Joey Belzil finished the opportunity off the rebound for the game’s only goal.
Senior midfielder Oktay Belut had a team-high three shots and one shot on goal in his last game as a Cougar. With the loss, the Cougars end the year with a 15-5 record.