ALISO VIEJO, CA- The Soka Lions were unable to defeat the Hope International University Royals, falling 5-3 at the Lions Den Soccer Stadium on Thursday evening.

Soka's JP Dufour put the Lions on the scoreboard early after catching a Hope player in possession of the ball outside of the top of the box during the fourth minute of play. Dufour took his first touch into space and blasted his shot into the upper left corner, giving Soka the early lead.

The Royals answered back three minutes later to equalize and tallied three more goals in the first half, scoring in the 18th, 30th, and 43rd minutes of play.

Dufour opened up the second half converting his chance in the 60th minute. The goal stemmed from Luca Aiello intercepting a pass from Hope's defender and then threading his pass to Dufour. Dufour took his first touch forward and then placed his shot perfectly into the upper corner to give the Lions their second goal of the match.

Hope responded again in the 71st minute, and then Soka's Meteus Rosa drew a penalty kick in the final remaining minutes of the game. Rosa buried his chance, bringing the final score to 5-3.

"We continue to build for the regular season, and tonight was a great opportunity to play against a good team," said Head Coach Shawn Beyer. "We started lively and deserved the early goal—credit to Hope as they found a good rhythm to get the lead. We loved how our team fought to the end and finished the game well. We are learning a lot about our team and have another opportunity to grow on Sunday at Occidental."

The Lions travel to Los Angeles, CA, on Sunday, August 27, 2023, to compete in a scrimmage against the Occidental Tigers. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.



NOTES: Soka's overall record is now 0-2-1… the Lions were outshot 15-9… Soka's Bernardo Atalla made six saves… yellow cards were given to Soka's Adalid Oregon, David Olivas and Matt Fujinami.