El Cajon, Cailf. – The NAIA's #12 ranked FPU men's soccer team faced an intense and physical San Diego Christian College side this Saturday afternoon in El Cajon, defeating the Hawks by a score of 1-0. And although only a single goal was scored through the full 90 minutes of play, the game was anything short of eventful and dramatic. The physicality of the game was clearly evident, with a total of three players being sent off, and an FPU player receiving stitches by the time the final whistle blew.
The only score of the game came in the 20th minute when FPU sophomore Shawn Grieco played a well driven ball across the mouth of the Hawk's goal to teammate Daniel Spieth. Spieth was able to be first to the ball and redirected it into the back of the net to record his 6th goal of the season, and give the Sunbirds a 1-0 lead which was all they would need.
Shortly after, Spieth was involved in the volatile situation which resulted in him and SDCC's Jon Fuller being sent off in the 42nd minute. Both players were issued red cards after an altercation inside the Hawk's penalty area turned into a physical confrontation between the two. In plain view of the officials, the center referee had no choice but to red card both players, leaving each team with ten men.
The drama would continue just a few minutes later when in the 45th, Sunbird's junior Vitor Machado collided heads with a Hawk defender in an attempt to score. The impact left a gash over his right eye that sidelined Machado for the remainder of the game and would require seven stitches.
To resume the second half, the physical battle would continue and eventually lead to the third ejection of the match. In the 78th minute, Hawk's Ignacio Finlay committed a blatant foul on FPU's Eddie Gonzalez resulting in Finlay's accumulation of his second yellow of the game, a red card equivalent. With Finlay's ejection, the Hawks had to play the remainder of the match with nine men.
FPU continued to create opportunities finishing the game with a total of 15 shots to the Hawks 5, but were unable to capitalize on the man advantage in the waning minutes of the game.
With the win, the Sunbirds improve to 7-1-1 overall (3-1-1 GSAC) and will be back in action this Tuesday October 14th as they travel to face Westmont College. Kickoff is scheduled for 3:00PM.
