GSAC play continues in Phoenix

Written by Tim Gooszen

Phoenix, AZ- Arizona Christian could not slow down San Diego Christian forward Borja Suarez who netted a hat trick on Saturday as the Firestorm fell 4-1 to the Hawks at the Rose Mofford Sports Complex.  Senior Bernardo Venancio scored for Arizona Christian.

Saturday's match started rather uneventful as the teams combined for just one shot in the first eleven minutes.  However, that quickly changed in the 12th minute when two ACU defenders and Suarez came together as a group near the top of the box.  The ball pin balled off all three players before Suarez squirted out the back and scored into the left corner.  Suarez was just getting warmed up.

Over the next 26 minutes, Arizona Christian outshot San Diego Christian 5-3 including two strikes from Senior Kenny McAvoy with one on target and the other missing wide right.

In the 39th minute, the Firestorm found the equalizer.  Junior Jacob Drenth found open space along the end line right of the goal and sent a nice a cross into the path of Venancio who buried a shot into the right corner of the net.

Unfortunately, ACU could not close out the half maintaining the tie as just two and a half minutes later, Suarez took advantage of a failed clearance and scored from the left side to give SDCC a 2-1 edge headed to the break.

After Junior Luis Tapia sent a shot wide right about five minutes into the second half, Senior Jesse Gerkey hit a nice free kick following a foul but it curved right to the SDCC goalkeeper.

A total of 10 different ACU players attempted at least one shot in game.  Drenth, Freshman Jimmy Santiago, and Sophomore Anthony Archuleta all connected with shots on goal in the final ten minutes of action but were turned away.

For Suarez he added his third goal in the 62nd minute before the Hawks concluded the scoring with less than 90 seconds to play.

The Firestorm return to action on Thursday by traveling up to Rocklin to meet up with William Jessup for a 3:00 pm match.