It was a wild week, albeit a short one with just five conference matches, all on Saturday. By the time the day was over, six teams were tied for second place with six points each. Hawai`i Pacific wins the Team of the Week, pocketing two wins over Hawai`i Hilo (one non-conference), while Biola's Ethan Hardin has input on three of his teams' four goals in a gigantic 4-3 comback win over Point Loma. Azusa Pacific's Leo Moreno was very good in a shutout of first-place Dominican to earn Defender of the Week. 

2023 Results/Schedule
2023 Standings
2023 Statistics
2023 National Poll
 
PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Biola's Ethan Hardin, MF, Soph., 6-0, West Palm Beach, Florida                                            
Ethan Hardin scored twice and had an assist in a huge Biola win over Point Loma in La Mirada, 4-3. The Eagles trailed 3-0 before they made an improbable comeback, scoring all four of their goals in the second half behind Hardin's offensive outburst. The sophomore assisted on BU's first goal at 53 minutes to help get the Eagles on the board and 17 minutes later tied the match at 3-3 with a shot from inside the box. With time winding down and both teams sending desperate shots towards goal, the Florida native took a rebound off the PLNU keeper and knocked it home for the match winner in the 89th minute. "Ethan comes through big for us often," said head coach Joey O'Keefe. "Tonight when we needed him to come through on a big stage, he didn't shy away. He stepped up as a captain, put the game on his shoulders and made a big difference for us."
 
DEFENDER OF THE WEEK: Azusa Pacific's Leo Moreno, GK, Sr., 5-9, 175, Azusa, Calif.                                                
It was a much needed early conference win for Azusa Pacific on Saturday against defending co-champ Dominican, and senior goalkeeper Leo Moreno helped make it happen. Moreno had seven big saves in the shutout, drawing the Cougars even in conference play at 1-1. With no score in the first half, the local product had maybe his toughest save on a Dominican breakaway when he was able to deflect the shot off the post to keep the score tied. He added his seventh save in the final minutes, giving his the team the clean sheet and Moreno's tenth of his career. Moreno, who has been on the APU roster for six seasons, now has 34 saves this season and 107 in his career. 

TEAM OF THE WEEK: Hawai`i Pacific Sharks                                                                                                                        
Hawai`i Pacific came into the first week of October on a five-match losing streak and had no conference wins. Looming was rival Hawai`i Hilo, who was trending the other direction having won three of their last four matches. But the Sharks got things turned around, first with a 1-0 non-conference win over the Vulcans on Wednesday and then made it count with a 2-1 PacWest victory over Hilo on Saturday. In the non-conference match on Oahu, the Sharks got the only score that they would need in the 18th minute on a goal-finder by Erik Wikan. The HPU defense did the work from there, allowing seven shots (but only one on goal) and eight corner kicks before Connor Margo recorded the shutout. Just three days later in Hilo, HPU did it again with leading scorer Leandro Weingartner having a foot in both scores. Weingartner scored on a penalty kick in the 11th minute and assisted Jonathan Sorto ten minutes later in what would prove to be the game winner. HPU is now 1-3 in the PacWest and 3-6-1 overall.
 
PACWEST NEWS AND NOTES: Westmont hammered Fresno Pacific 4-0 on Saturday, improving to 2-0 in conference play. The Warriors got goals from four different players and another shutout from keeper Brady Highfill, who had four saves...Concordia defeated Academy of Art 3-1, with Kevin Sanchez scoring twice. It was the Golden Eagles' first win in PacWest play...In that wild Biola-Point Loma match in La Mirada, PLNU's Elijah Langford had a goal and two assists. For Biola, Aidan Burns came off the bench and into the goal and tallied five saves in just 32 minutes of action to help preserve the win....Issaka Salifu had a goal and a assist in Azusa Pacific's 2-0 victory over Dominican...It's early, but the PacWest standings are already a jumbled mess. Six teams are tied for second with six points each with Dominican leading the pack thus far (see link at top of page). 

RECORD BOOK WATCH: Academy of Art's Gilly Miller is just outside the PacWest career top 20 with 13 assists. He needs 15 to make the list...Chaminade's Brandan Yasue has 165 career saves, 13th on the PacWest ledger. Next spot on the rung is 176.

LOOKING AHEAD 
This week's schedule actually began yesterday (Monday) in matches that weren't included in this report. Dominican takes on Concordia and Azusa Pacific plays at Academy of Art to kick off the week, followed by Thursday matches between Chaminade and Hawai`i Pacific and Dominican versus future PacWest member Menlo. On Saturday, Fresno Pacific is at Academy of Art and Azusa Pacific is at Westmont.