Grand Canyon men’s soccer got a first look at what this season might become Friday night at GCU Stadium: plenty of pressure, plenty of chances, and a reminder that patience is part of the process.
In Paul Coro’s recap for gculopes.com, the Lopes outshot UC Riverside 23-6, earned 14 corner kicks and controlled possession for long stretches, but still came away with a 2-0 loss in head coach Jamie Davies’ home debut. That’s the frustrating part of early-season soccer — the part that tests a team’s belief while it’s still learning how to connect all the pieces.
The article says Grand Canyon is working with 22 new players and a new coaching staff, and that showed in the way the Lopes created danger without quite finishing it. GCU put five of its 23 shots on goal, and several promising moments came in quick bursts. Freshman forward Alhassan Alhassan took six shots, matching UC Riverside’s team total, while freshman forward Arnau Camaño added four more. The Lopes were active, aggressive and often on the front foot. They just couldn’t find the final touch.
UC Riverside made the most of its opening, scoring in the 29th minute after a free kick led to a header and a finish from junior midfielder Tarket Hamideh. From there, the Highlanders were able to sit deeper and make Grand Canyon work even harder for every look at goal. Davies told gculopes.com that the Lopes created chances — he said there were probably 16 clear-cut chances — but that the group still needs more purpose in the final third.
That theme carried through the second half, when GCU kept pushing and stayed close to a tying goal. The recap notes a 56th-minute corner that bounced around the box and nearly turned into a goal for freshman Felix Oberwaditzer, along with other shots that went high or wide. Senior forward Sabri Hanni summed up the mood well in the story: the Lopes have to stay patient, keep working and stay positive.
That’s not the fun part of building a program, but it may be the necessary part. And on a night when the result didn’t match the effort, Grand Canyon still showed enough to make the next stretch worth watching.
The Lopes are back in action Sept. 3 against Oakland, according to gculopes.com.
