In the second week of October, the Cougars brought in another week of wild game results.
This week, for both soccer teams, they were hyped up. In the game on Monday, both teams brought in a victory against the Academy of Art. Also, for the men’s soccer team, senior Leo Moreno was titled the PacWest Defender of the Week for his significant performance against Dominican last week. The week’s games were tight for the women’s volleyball team, with both games winning by 3-2 against two different teams.
Men‘s Soccer:
On this Monday evening, Azusa Pacific earned their second victory of the month against Academy of Art, 3-0. In the 20th minute, junior midfielder Issaka Salifu found an opening pass to Sean Romo, who shot the perfect kick, giving the Cougars a 1-0 lead.
During the second half, in the 70th minute, junior forward Brian Torres found freshman Mario Shuteriqi open in the field for a pass. Shuteriqi saw an opening for a goal, scoring the Cougars a 2-0 lead.
In the 82nd minute of the game, Salifu initiated a pass to junior Juancarlos Rodriguez. As Rodriguez kicked the ball, it passed through the Urban Knights goalkeeper, giving the Cougars a 3-0 final score.
Later in the week, the men’s soccer team traveled to Westmont College. Westmont jumped out to a lead of 2-0 against the Cougars. The Cougars had many opportunities before the first half ended, but the Westmont goalkeeper blocked them.
With 42 seconds before the game ended, freshman Hamza Adam scored his first goal in his Cougar career, ending with a 1-3 against Westmont.
Leo Moreno was titled the PacWest Defender of the Week due to this significant performance over Dominican last Saturday. Moreno recorded his second-highest amount of saves during this season with seven saves. He’s currently ranked third with 36 saves.
Women’s Soccer:
Last week, on Monday evening, the Azusa Pacific women won against Academy of Art by 7-0.
In the 17th minute of the match, sophomore forward Aubrey Dunaway scored a goal, getting a lead for the Cougars 1-0. Leaving a few minutes before the end of the first half, junior forward Jaci Maze got a fantastic shot, giving the Cougars a 2-0 lead before transitioning to the end of the first half.
At the start of the second half, within 45 seconds, runaway scored again, making it 3-0. In the 51st minute, senior Katie Prado had a strong kick, resulting in a goal for 4-0.
In the 67th minute, junior Katie O’Brien scored 40 yards away from the goalkeeper on a kick. In the remaining 10 minutes of the game, both Anegela Cipriano and Rilee Bradbury also scored.
The Cougars played against Westmont on Saturday afternoon, ending in a 2-2 draw.
At the start of the 11th minute of the game, sophomore Avery Guiel started with her first goal of the season and a 1-0 lead. In the 30th minute, the Cougars found another gap, resulting in a goal from Dunaway and 2-0.
The second half hit differently, as Westmont, in the 62nd minute, Warriors player Grace Duckens found an opening, making a goal 1-2. The game ended in a 2-2 draw after Amaryz Machado also scored for the Warriors in the last four minutes.
Women’s Volleyball.
The Cougar volleyball team competed against Concordia University on Tuesday at the Felix Event Center, bringing the Cougars a victory by 3-2.
In the opening of the first set, the Cougars were in the lead by six, 14-8, and throughout this set, Cougars got going with the lead ending with 25-19 in the opening set.
Concordia dominated with few errors in the second set and took a 13-25 victory.
The third set was very competitive for each side, the Cougars taking the lead early, and at the final, Kirra Schulz from Concordia scored eight kills, and the Golden Eagles took a big lead.
The Cougars started to bring their game up in the fourth set as freshman Sarah Wilson stepped up to change the set’s atmosphere. Wilson scored 16 kills for the team, and senior Kyra Palmbush consecutively made blocks, giving the Cougars a victory and sending them to the fourth set.
Throughout the final set, neither side could take the lead by three points, making this set very tight. The game was very close, with both teams having many chances to end it, but both teams successfully defended. With Wilson making four kills in the final set, this ended the last set, leading to the Cougars win by 3-2 against the Concordia.
They also faced the Fresno Pacific Sunbirds on Friday evening, winning by 3-2. In the first set, the Cougars won 25-17. APU took the lead in the second set, 17-7, without hesitation. But the third set for Fresno Pacific was different. They ended with a score of 25-23, taking victory of that set, a close game against the Cougars.
Fresno Pacific continued the streak, with this lead beating the Cougars 25-20. In the final set, the Cougars won with a score of 15-11.
Women’s Swimming and Diving:
Last week, the Cougars sought six first-place finishes in the Division II category on the boards, and on Friday, freshman Abigail Keane scored a total of 179.05 after she performed six dives and came first place in Division II and eighth overall.
In the one-meter dive, sophomore Allison Ferrer earned 210.80, rewarded her first place in Division II and 12th overall.
On Saturday, the Cougar swimming athletes Marci Yanagawa, Delanie Gearing and Madeline Schultz first placed in the Division II category. Amanda Anderson also placed first in Division in the 400 individual medley.