WAIPAHU, Hawai'i – Hawai'i Pacific University saw Azusa Pacific score four unanswered second half goals beat the Sharks 5-2 in PacWest Conference action Saturday afternoon at the Waipio Peninsula Soccer Park's Field 6.
 
The Sharks (2-3, 0-1) dropped their conference opener as the Cougars (5-1-1, 2-0) chalked up their second win on Oahu.
 
HPU and APU battled evenly for the first two-thirds of the contest.
 
HPU jumped out to an early lead in the 17th minute when Kyle Rivers of Spanaway, Wash./Spanaway Lake tallied his second goal of the season when teammate Jair Espinoza of San Miguel Petapa, Guatemala/CSD Municipal recovered a short corner kick, crossed to Tom Karshuening of Satrop, Germnay/Gymnasium Walsrode who headed the ball to the far post for Rivers to drive into the back of the net.
 
The Cougars answered in the 29th minute with a give-and-go on the left side as Arturo Astorga centered the ball for a clean shot by James Ndubueze to tie the game at 1-all.
 
In the second half, HPU again grabbed the lead as Isac Mansson of Stockholm, Sweden/Bromma Gymnasium fought through a centering pass, lost possession to an APU defender, and then recovered the ball for an open shot to the lower right side to put the Sharks up 2-1 in the 50th minute.
 
The Cougars answered again in the 55th minute with a hard centering pass from Astorga found Rene Santos who one-tapped it into the goal to tie the game at 2-2.
 
APU took control ten minutes later in the 65th minute as Bruno Pagani put the Cougars up for the first time with a goal from the right side after passes from Ndubueze and Aleksander Pumpalovic.
 
The flood gate opened 12 minutes later as Gabriel Costa scored his sixth goal of the season with smooth ball skills to recover a dump pass from Pagani for a clean shot in the 77th minute. Astorga completed a four-point day in the 80th minute with a goal on passes from Costa and Pagani to make it 5-2.
 
HPU junior goalkeeper Chandler Schur of Fayetteville, Pa./Chambersburg Career Magnet posted four saves against 15 Cougar shots. APU goalkeeper Brendan Fix tallied one save in the eight shots he faced by the Sharks.
 
HPU is back on the pitch to start a California trip on Monday, Oct. 1, when the Sharks visit Cal State Monterey Bay for a non-conference affair. Kickoff is scheduled for 10 a.m. HST (1 p.m. PDT) at the Otter Sports Complex.