Men's Soccer

Sea Lions Survive Mountain Lions

Point Loma builds 2-0 lead and holds on to top UC Colorado Springs 2-1 in a NCAA Third Round match. The quarterfinals are next, where Point Loma will play either Stanislaus State or Midwestern State.

SAN DIEGO--Point Loma built a 2-0 lead and then used tight defense to hold on for a 2-1 win over Colorado-Colorado Springs in a NCAA Third round match on Saturday afternoon at the PLNU Soccer Field. 

The Sea Lions, now 16-3-2, will advance to the NCAA Quarterfinals next Saturday (December 6) against either Stanislaus State or Midwestern State. Those two squads play on Sunday at 3 pm. PT.

It was Point Loma's first-ever Third Round match and they dominated early. The home team had 11 first half shots, four on goal, compared to four shots for the Mountain Lions (none on goal). Most importantly, they found the back of the net first.

In the 17th minute, Gael Ruiz worked a give-and-go with Curtis Collazos, curling a shot off his left foot into the net from about 20 yards out. That 1-0 lead held up through intermission. 

Point Loma quickly added on after the break. Ruiz was involved again, gathering his own blocked shot and sending a cross that was headed into the net by Elijah Langford, giving the Sea Lions a 2-0 advantage. 

But the Mountain Lions wouldn't go away. Statistically, the second half was played more evenly, and UC Colorado Springs broke through in the 78th minute with a score by Nick Walker to make it 2-1. The final minutes were spent with UCCS on the attack, including three free kicks in the final three and a half minutes that were pushed away by the PLNU defense. 

The second half saw both teams with eight total shots, and three on goal each. 

UC Colorado Springs', the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference regular season and tournament winner, had beaten CSU Los Angeles and CSU Dominguez Hills to reach the Third Round, a first for them as well. Their season ends at 12-6-5. 

Point Loma, the Pacific West Conference regular season and tournament champion, will await the results of Sunday's Stanislaus-State-Midwestern State match-up to see where they are headed next week. If Stanislaus State wins, they would head to Turlock as the Warriors are the No. 1 seed in Super Region 4. If No. 4 seed Midwestern State wins, they would come to No. 3 seed Point Loma.