The men’s soccer team started off the season in high gear with a 2-0 win against the Holy Names University Hawks on Aug. 31.
The following day, they fell 2-1 against the Dominican University of California Penguins, leaving their record to sit at 1-1.
Thursday’s game belonged to one player in particular. Jacks junior forward Isaiah Dario was the heart of the offense, as he netted both of the Jacks’ goals. He was buzzing around the field before receiving a cross from sophomore forward Marco Silveira that found the back of the net at 53:48. Less than two minutes later he knocked in a header from a pass by senior midfielder Matt Steinmetz that brought the Jacks up by two.
“I can say all of our hard work paid off, especially for our first home game,” Dario said. “I had a team that was definitely behind me and definitely believed in me, and I scored two goals because of it.”
The Jacks were in the driver’s seat for the remainder of the game as they outshot the Hawks 18-13, with 10 of those on goal.
Saturday’s game wasn’t as stellar for the Jacks as they fell to Dominican’s Penguins 2-1. Dario was held scoreless following his two goal game but was constantly attacking with five of the Jacks’ 21 shots. Senior forward Francisco Calderon scored the Jacks’ one goal and added six shots total.
“We created some good chances and had opportunities to tie up the game, but their keeper made some big saves towards the end to finish off the game,” Jacks head coach Fred Jungemann said.
Calderon put the Jacks up by one at the 15:26 mark on a broken play from Penguins goalie Ruben Raygoza. As he attempted a takeaway, Calderon snuck a short pass to get the one goal for the Jacks.
Dominican tied up the game on a cross from the left to junior forward Luke Raley that beat Jacks senior goalie Bryan Hernandez at 25:51. Dominican took the lead at 47:24 to start the second half as Penguins junior defender Matt Albert hustled to get his own crossbar deflection, making his second shot.
“This game is a wake-up call,” said Hernandez. “In terms of refining the way, we just simply have to train and play like the good team that we are.”
Humboldt State will host Concordia University (Ore.) on Friday, Sept. 7 at College Creek Field at 1 p.m.
