Aliso Viejo, Calif. — Five Soka University seniors found the back of the net as the men's soccer team rallied from an early two-goal deficit to defeat La Sierra University 5-3 on Tuesday, Oct. 13, at The Den. After falling behind 2-0 in the opening seven minutes, the Lions scored three unanswered goals before halftime and added two late goals to secure their fourth conference victory of the season.
La Sierra took an early lead with goals from Daniel Garcia in the fifth minute and Elias Quintanar Macias in the seventh. Soka responded in the 22nd minute when senior
Rudy Garcia converted a pass from
Diego Barba to cut the deficit in half. Barba then found the equalizer in the 28th minute before
Luca Aiello completed the comeback by converting a penalty kick in the 33rd, giving the Lions a 3-2 advantage heading into halftime.
La Sierra fought back in the 71st minute when Daniel Garcia scored his second goal to level the match at 3-3. With less than 10 minutes remaining, senior
David Olivas restored Soka's lead in the 80th minute off an assist from
Neyo Simon.
Aidan Sandoval sealed the victory in the 88th minute, finishing a pass from
Martin Mondala in an all-senior connection that secured the Lions' 5-3 win.
Soka finished with 18 shots, including eight on goal, compared with La Sierra's 16 shots and eight on target.
Hope Suka led the Lions with four shots, while
Rudy Garcia,
David Olivas and
Luca Aiello each recorded three. Garcia put all three of his attempts on target, while Olivas and Aiello each registered one shot on goal. Goalkeeper
Jacob Warren made five saves to help secure the victory.
Diego Barba also delivered a standout performance with a goal and an assist, contributing to two of Soka's three first-half goals.
With the win, Soka improved to 5-5-2 overall and 4-4-2 in GSAC play.
