October 6, 2024

OC Sports Zone: Community First

Concordia men’s soccer team stuns Point Loma 3-2 in overtime on the road

Jafet Sanchez timed a perfect slide tackle and assisted Connor Gordon on the game winning goal Thursday to help Concordia University Irvine top Point Loma, 3-2 in overtime. Photo courtesy Troy Makalena.

Jafet Sanchez scored a goal right before halftime and came up with a huge play in overtime Thursday to setup Connor Gordon as the Concordia Eagles stunned Point Loma on the road, 3-2.

Sanchez timed his slide-tackle perfectly in the opening seconds of the extra period to steal the ball for Concordia (4-5, 2-0 PacWest). The junior then quickly spotted a cutting Gordon and lofted a cross toward the redshirt senior.

Gordon immediately scored off a header and was mobbed by teammates as the Eagles celebrated their hard-fought victory.

Concordia improved to 2-0 in conference play and 4-5 overall.

The ending featured a quick swing of emotion as the Sea Lions had just tied the match at 2-2 with a goal by Tim Siegfried in the 90th minute.

Sanchez tallied his goal off a cross by Eric Torres late in the first half.  Concordia led 1-0 at intermission but Point Loma was able to respond with the equalizer in the 51st minute.

Gordon net his first goal of the afternoon earlier in the second half.  He broke free on a through ball and after initially being stopped, he sent the rebound home to give the Eagles a brief 2-1 advantage.

With his two goals on the afternoon, Gordon also moved into sole possession of second place in both goals and points in Concordia history.

He passed Kyle Carroll (99) and current LAFC star Christian Ramirez (100) in points and currently has tallied 102 points in his career. Jeff Clark holds the school record with 126 points.

In addition, Gordon upped his goal tally to 43 career goals which trails only Clark who posted 50 during his time with the Green and Gold.

Concordia returns to action this Saturday at Biola at 4 p.m as the team continues its six-game road trip.

-Courtesy Ben Rosehart