SPOKANE, Wash. – Houston Christian University put up a valiant effort in its first road contest of the season before falling 2-1 to Gonzaga at Luger Field on Sunday night.
The two teams would trade punches for the first half of the first half. HCU had several good runs in the offensive end and a couple of solid looks from
Curtis Dunn and
Ethan Giwa-McNeil.
In the 27
th minute, the Zags would break the ice, getting a cross from the right side into the box by Stefano Campisi that found Drew Pederson on the back side. His header would slide just past a sprawled
Alex Aitken into the right bottom corner giving the hosts an one-nil lead.
Around eight minutes later,
Jireh Oyebamiji got off the Huskies best chance of the opening 45. Oyebamiji took a nice through ball by
D'Alessandro Herrera on the left side, but his left footed strike as his strike from just outside the goal box was smothered by GU keeper Chema Preciado.
HCU continued to push forward early in the second session, and in the 56
th minute got another chance. A free kick from just inside midfield slid through the defense to find
Ricardo Garcia, but his touch went just wide of the right woodwork.
Gonzaga would get a breakaway in the 60
th minute along the right channel. Again it was Campisi, this time taking a long pass and giving a smooth delivery into the box where Chris Swider hit a diving header into the left side of the net. His fifth goal of the season gave the hosts a two-goal advantage with only a half hour to play.
Two corners were earned in succession for the Huskies in the 64
th minute. The second found
Ryan Okerayi on the back side but his header went wide of the right cross bar.
HCU wouldn't go quietly into the Northwest night, and finally broke into the scoring column in the 80
th minute. A free kick led to a clearance back to near midfield where
Hans Leza collected and took a couple of dribbles before launching a perfect pass over the top into the box to find
Sebastian Rodriguez sprinting through the middle of traffic. Rodriguez would catch the pass in midair with a soft right-foot touch to the left side of the net, pulling HCU to within one, 2-1.
That would be it for the scoring on this night however, as the hosts put away a couple of last chances by the Huskies over the final 10 minutes.
HCU outshot the Zags in the second half 9-7 and ended up 14-13 in shots taken, with the hosts getting a 7-6 advantage in SOG. Gonzaga had five corners to three for the Huskies.
Sebastian Rodriguez opened his HCU account with the 80
th minute goal, and
Hans Leza picked up his first assist of the season while playing all 90 minutes in the back for the fourth straight game to open the campaign.
Alex Aitken was formidable in the pipes, stopping five shots on the evening.
Chris Swider picked up his fifth goal on the season while Drew Pederson notched his third for Gonzaga, which at 4-0 is off to its best start since 1980. Stefano Campisi assisted on each goal, and Preciado had five saves to earn the win.
HCU is now 1-3 on the season, and continues its four-game road stretch later this week. The Huskies will be in Des Moines, Iowa on Friday to take on Drake before heading to Omaha to take on Nebraska-Omaha next Monday.
#DawgsUp
