Hawai`i Hilo broke a little mini skid with a highly successful SoCal road trip with wins over Azusa Pacific, Biola and a tie with Westmont. That put the Vulcans right back in the thick of the conference playoff hunt. UHH goalkeeper Paul Waschkau gave up only two goals in the three matches and had 10 saves for Defender of the Week. Point Loma's Felix Calero scored twice early in the match to secure a win over Chaminade at home on Saturday. 

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2024 National Poll
 
PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Point Loma's Felix Calero, F, Sr., 5-11, 180, San Diego, Calif.                                            
Point Loma's Felix Calero scored twice in the first half of a 6-0 home win over Chaminade on Saturday to help keep the Sea Lions rolling. Calero scored in the 17th and 28 minutes to push the home team to its third straight win, allowing PLNU to improve to 9-1-3 overall and 7-0-1 in PacWest play, good for first place with 22 points. Calero, who was a First Team All-PacWest selection in 2023 after transferring from Division I St. Mary's, is tied for the conference lead with teammate Elijah Langford with 20 points (7 goals, 6 assists). The Sea Lions are also the first team to clinch a berth in the Nov. 14-16 PacWest tournament. 
 
DEFENDER OF THE WEEK: Hawai`i Hilo's Paul Waschkau, GK, Jr., 6-1, 180, Dusseldorf, Germany                    
Hawai`i Hilo's Paul Waschkau had a big week on the road for the Vulcans. The German allowed just two goals in three matches and totaled 10 saves to help his team go 2-0-1 on their SoCal trip. Waschkau began the trip with six saves during a 2-1 win at Azusa Pacific, just his third start of the season but also his third win in the net. On Thursday at Biola, he added two more saves in a 2-0 shutout of the Eagles, and he capped the week with a pair of stops in a 1-1 standoff with Westmont. The first-year Vulcan and former two-year starter at Eastern New Mexico is now 4-0-1 in the goal, with a 1.25 GAA and 20 saves in six matches. 

TEAM OF THE WEEK: Hawai`i Hilo Vulcans                                                                                                                
Hawai`i Hilo is the Team of the Week after a stellar road trip to keep their postseason hopes alive. The Vulcans kicked off the trip with a thrilling 2-1 win over Azusa Pacific, scoring the game winner on Brian Trujillo's shot in the 83rd minute. Trujillo had an assist on the other UHH goal. That snapped a two-match skid for the Vulcans. Against Biola on Thursday, Palli Ingvason scored just eight minutes into the match and Gen Takahashi added the clincher in the 63rd minute in the 2-0 win. At Westmont, the Vulcans turned a potential loss into a tie on Mirai Sato's score at 85:44 to account for the 1-1 final. That kept the Vulcans tied with the Warriors in the conference standings, both with 13 points. UH Hilo, with two conference matches left to play, is 9-5-1 overall and 4-4-1 in PacWest action, tied for fourth place.

CONFERENCE COUNTDOWN: The first-ever Pacific West Conference Championship tournament will be held Nov. 14 and 16 at the Great Park in Irvine. That means that there is just two weeks left in the regular season, with the top four teams in the final standings earning the trip to Orange County (the three new schools are not yet NCAA postseason eligible). Each team plays 11 conference matches, and here is where we sit as we head into the final two weeks. 1. Point Loma 7-0-1 (22 points), 2. Westmont 4-3-1 (13 points), 3. Hawai`i Hilo 4-4-1 (13 points), T4 Dominican 4-4 (12 points, T4 Biola (12 points), and 5. Azusa Pacific 3-3-2 (11 points). Menlo (7-1, 21 points) and Vanguard (5-2-1, 16 points) would be in second and third place respectively if postseason eligible. The Vulcans have just two matches left, while the rest of the pack has three or four matches left on their agenda.

LOOKING AHEAD: A lot will be determined in the coming week with 12 PacWest matches on the schedule. Today (Monday), Fresno Pacific visits Hawaii Pacific, and the Sunbirds take on Chaminade on Wednesday. Also on Wednesday, Academy of Art visits Jessup. Thursday features Concordia at Dominican and Vanguard at Menlo, while Saturday's full slate looks like this--Concordia at Jessup, Westmont at Academy of Art, Azusa Pacific at Menlo, Biola at Point Loma, Vanguard at Dominican, Fresno Pacific at Hawaii Hilo and Hawaii Pacific at Chaminade. 
 
PACWEST NEWS AND NOTES: Vanguard went 1-0-1 on the week with a 3-1 win over Biola and a 1-1 tie with Chaminade. Against the Silverswords, Niko Ochoa scored twice and Adan Alvarado had a goal and an assist to help the Lions improve to 7-3-2 overall and 5-2-1 in the PacWest...Westmont also went 1-0-1, with the tie against Hilo and a 2-0 victory against Concordia. The Warriors improved to 4-3 in league play and 8-4-3 overall...Menlo had its six-match win streak clipped with a 1-0 non-conference loss to UC Santa Cruz on Wednesday. They bounced back on Saturday with 2-1 conquest of Academy of Art, overcoming a 1-0 deficit with two second half goals. GK Martin Fiala had three big second half saves when the Oaks were down a man...Joey Glabb scored twice during ART U's 4-2 non-league win over Cal Maritime...Fresno Pacific's Elmer Carballo had six saves during the Sunbirds' 2-1 win over Jessup...Azusa Pacific broke out the offense during a 7-1 romp over Chaminade. Andrew Gomez had two goals, Gabriel Oropeza had a goal and two assists and Kaleb Abara had one of each...350 fans watched the Cougars and Concordia play to a 0-0 tie on Saturday...Point Loma remained in first place with a 6-0 win over Chaminade. Felix Calero had two goals, Elijah Langford had a goal and an assist and Zach Mercieca had two assist to go with a goal. The Sea Lions scored just 22 seconds into the match and led at the half, 4-0...Diego Grande and Anthony Stainer each had a goal and a assist in Dominican's 4-0 win over Jessup.