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MSOC - Ethan Giwa-McNeil
1
Houston Christian HCU (2-3-2, 0-0-0)
3
Winner Grand Canyon GCU (5-3-0, 0-0-0)
Houston Christian HCU
(2-3-2, 0-0-0)
1
Final
3
Grand Canyon GCU
(5-3-0, 0-0-0)
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Houston Christian HCU 0 1 1
Grand Canyon GCU 2 1 3

Game Recap: Men's Soccer |

MSOC: Huskies thwarted by Lopes in Phoenix

HCU heads to California for final non-conference tilt on Saturday at Pacific



PHOENIX, Ariz. —- HCU found itself in a two-goal hole at the half and saw its three-game unbeaten streak snapped with a 3-1 loss to Grand Canyon at GCU Stadium Wednesday evening.

The Lopes controlled possession throughout the early stages, and finally capitalized with 21:11 gone. A cross deep into the box bounced straight to Bright Nutornutsi, who put home a short shot into the bottom left of the goal. 

In the 30th minute, the Huskies came inches away from leveling. A bad clearance by GCU was taken by Sam Zeeman, who then sent a ball into the middle of the final third finding a waiting D'Alessandro Herrera. HCU's leading goal-scorer would use a shifty piece of dribbling, putting the ball on his left foot for a blast that caromed hard off the bottom of the crossbar.

Moments later, GCU put together a little give-and-go as Jorge Lopez hit a falling Nutornutsi just outside the area, and his soft touch back to Lopez was dropped right into the bottom left corner for a 2-0 Lopes advantage witih just over five minutes remaining until the break.

Just short of nine minutes into the second frame, the Huskies were given a throw-in deep in GCU territory. Zack Nicolaou's heave carried to the top of the 18-yard box where Bangalee Sesay took it off his chest for a soft touch to Ricardo Garcia just a few feet away. Garcia wasted no time with a screamer into the top left corner, pulling HCU to within one.
The Huskies would continue to put the pressure on, but GCU would push the lead back to two once again at the 65:23 mark on a second goal from Lopez via a second assist from Nutornutsi.

Herrera had two shots for the Huskies, while Garcia netted his first goal of the season. Alex Aitken had two saves out of five shots on goal.

Nutornutsi pushed home his sixth goal of the year to go along with two assists to lead the Lopes, now 5-3 on the season.

HCU falls to 2-3-2 overall, and will now head up the California coast for a Saturday evening matchup with Pacific in the final non-conference outing of the regular season. 

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