Clark, Fahey Fire Eagles Past Sea Lions, 4-0

Box Score 

(11/1/07 - Men's Soccer) IRVINE - All-American Jeff Clark and sophomore midfielder Jon Fahey each scored twice to lead #3-seeded Concordia to a 4-0 win over 6th-seeded Point Loma Nazarene, Thursday afternoon in the quarterfinal round of the NAIA Region II Tournament.

The two teams met for the second time in a week as the Eagles concluded the regular season with a hard-fought 1-0 win over the Sea Lions. The return match, however, would not be nearly as tight down the stretch as the Eagles put their stamp on the game early on.

The free-flowing form that sent the Eagles soaring to the top of the NAIA rankings returned on the opening goal, a move started out in midfield by sophomore Adrian Martinez. He spotted Clark 30 yards from goal and put the ball perfectly into his path. Clark squared his body toward goal and slipped the ball behind the defense and Fahey fired toward the right corner for his 5th tally of the season.

Point Loma enjoyed its own spell of high pressure and nearly found an equalizer just on the other side of the hour mark. Gareth Moore had a pair of attempts at goal while Chad Vargo had another attempt blocked as the Eagles scrambled to clear their lines.

Their success was quickly rewarded after a costly mistake by the Sea Lions' defense was punished. A ball meant for Jon Fielding in midfield was intercepted by Martinez midway into the Point Loma half. Martinez picked out Clark racing all alone toward goal and he curled the ball to the right post around Bryan Louzil.

The Eagles were not about to lose the momentum they had worked so hard to grasp and all but put the game away six minutes past the hour mark. Again it was Clark setting up Fahey, this time with Clark sending a ball toward the middle of the area that Fahey flicked back through his own legs into the right corner.

"Fahey is just the perfect complement for Clark and we've really missed him lately," said head coach Don Ebert, who improved to 8-3-1 in playoff competition. "He's that darting litlte guy that gets in behind people. Everyone knows where Clark is and Fahey complements him very well."

Though the Sea Lions won the overall shots battle at 13-12, the Eagles kept most of them from troubling all-American Mike Borst too much in the second half. He finished the game with four saves for his 10th shutout of the season. It also gave him a chance to celebrate the final goal of the game, which came just nine seconds before the final whistle.

Carlos Suarez came in to partner Clark in attack and won the ball for his teammate on the left side of the Point Loma midfield. Clark picked up the loose ball and did the rest, beating a pair of defenders as he raced toward the right side of the penalty arc before blasting a 18-yard shot to the left post for his 11th tally of the season.

"I thought today we looked as good as we did at the beginning of the year," said Ebert. "We were back to playing fast, guys were around the ball, we tackled well and our defense looked really sharp. That's a very good team and I thought we played very well."

Not only was his offense firing on all cylinders, but Ebert did not spare praise for his backline, which welcomed freshman Jeff Coulter to the mix for his first collegiate start. With all-GSAC Josh Bickel injured and unable to play, Coulter came on and provided solid cover as the Eagles kept the clean sheet.

"I thought Coulter and the whole backline played really well," said Ebert. "A guy told me a long time ago that it's best to just throw a guy into a big game for his first start so he doesn't have time to think about it. I've always remembered that. Coulter has been training well, Bickel got hurt, we needed someone and he stepped up and did a great job. The backline and Borst were excellent today."

Concordia (15-2) will be home for semifinal round action on Saturday, November 3 at 1:00 p.m., a situation that came about after #8-seeded Westmont stunned top-seeded Azusa Pacific, 2-1. Should #2 Fresno Pacific knock off 7th-seeded The Master's later this evening, the Eagles would host 4th-seeded Holy Names, a 2-1 double-overtime winner against Vanguard.