IRVINE, Calif. – The PacWest held conference matches for the first time since 2019 in men’s soccer, and Academy of Art won two of those matches to take the early lead in the PacWest Northern California Pod standings. Point Loma won the other game, beating Biola 2-0 to start the Sea Lions’ season.
You couldn’t ask for a more dramatic way to return to conference competition in PacWest men’s soccer than what took place at Paul Goode Field on Wednesday night. Fresno Pacific and Academy of Art combined for four second-half goals to send the game to overtime.
Elvis Mensah got his second assist of the game finding
Adrian Cekala as he played a through ball forward to Cekala, who scored the game-winner from the corner of the box in the 99th minute for a 4-3 victory.
That same day Point Loma defeated Biola 2-0. The Sea Lions got goals from
Hunter Loomis and
Parker Scalzo. The Sea Lions have now won an impressive eight of 10 PacWest competitions across all sports since the return to competition in January.
The Urban Knights got their second win on Saturday, winning by another one-goal margin, beating Dominican, 2-1.
Armando Rivera got Academy of Art on the board with a goal in the 36th minute and then Cekala scored his third goal of the week before the Penguins got one back late in the game.
On Wednesday, Concordia starts its season at Biola. Dominican will travel to Fresno Pacific on Thursday and the Hawai`i Pod gets underway with a matchup between Hawai`i Pacific and Hawai`i Hilo.
Weekly awards based on the week of Feb. 1-7
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Parker Scalzo, Point Loma
F, Jr., 6-3 -- Murrieta, Calif.
Scalzo helped power the Point Loma offense with a goal and an assist in the Sea Lions' 2-0 win over Biola. The junior assisted on the first goal as he worked the ball to the right side of the box and then crossed it to Hunter Loomis in the middle, who headed it into the net for what would become the game-winner. Scalzo added a goal of his own in the 70th minute when he beat took a pass from Nick Eusebio and beat two defenders in the middle of the field.
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Adrian Cekala, Academy of Art
F, Sr., 6-0 – Lubeck, Germany
Cekala got a strong start to his senior season with three goals in two victories. The native of Lubeck, Germany, recorded his third multi-goal performance in an Urban Knight uniform in the win against Fresno Pacific. Cekala scored on a penalty kick in the 86th minute to send the match into overtime. He then scored again in the 98th minute to seal a 4-3 victory over the Sunbirds. Cekala got a second game-winning goal by scoring in the 70th minute of the Urban Knights 2-1 win over Dominican. It is the first time in program history that the Urban Knights have won each of their first two games to start a season.