COLLEGE PLACE, WA- The Soka University Lions earned their first win of the 2018 season with a 7-2 victory over the Wolves of Walla Walla University Sunday afternoon.

Sophomore Johannes Hielscher put the Lions on the scoreboard early, burying his shot into the upper left corner of the goal, after receiving a pass from junior Yauri De Groot three minutes into the match. 

With two minutes ticking down on the clock, De Groot found the back of the net off an assist from junior midfielder Julian Nazar, followed by another De Groot goal seven minutes later after receiving a pass from first-year midfielder Gerardo De La Torre. De Groot's back-to-back goals gave the Lions a three goal advantage twelve minutes into the match.

Soka junior Hunter Stewart tallied his first goal of the season after the Lions were awarded a penalty kick in the 25^th minute, bringing the score to 4-0 for the remainder of the first half.

Ten minutes into the second half, De La Torre took his chance, and blasted his shot from outside the box high, and into the left corner of the net. With only a few minutes counting down on the clock, De La Torre struck again, and netted his second career goal off of a De Groot assist, giving the Soka Lions the 6-0 lead with thirty minutes left to play.

Walla Walla's Carlos Cantu capitalized on his opportunity in the 64^th minute, putting the Wolves on the scoreboard, and denying the Lions of a shutout. Two minutes later, the Lions were awarded another penalty kick, and Soka's Stewart stepped up yet again to the spot.  Stewart converted his chance making the score 7-1.

With only twelve minutes remaining in the game, the Lions gave up a foul inside of the 18-yard box, and Walla Walla's Emmett Sample netted his penalty kick for the Wolves, bringing the final score to 7-2.

"I am immensely proud of our guys today as they put in such a professional performance after 22 hours of rest, and playing on a difficult pitch," said Head Coach Ian Eggleston. "Our quality showed, and we are all happy to get our first win of the season. We'll enjoy this victory as we fly back to Southern California tonight, and look ahead in preparation for next Saturday's match."

The Lions remain on the road and face the San Diego Christian College Hawks on Saturday, Sept. 1, 2018. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.
 


 
Notes: This is the first meeting between the Lions and the Wolves… Soka (1-1) outshot Walla Walla University (0-2) 16-6…Soka's Maxwel Barainca and Riley Grosso each had one save on the day… yellow cards were shown to Soka's Zach Engfelt and Walla Walla's Kade Baham...  For those interested in viewing the replay of today's Lions match can do so via Walla Walla University's stream on stretch internet for a charge of $7.95.