Nov. 16, 2008

 

Final Stats

 

(Los Angeles, Calif.) - Junior Conor Chinn recorded a hat trick but it wasn't enough as the USF men's soccer team dropped a 5-4 decision at Loyola Marymount Sunday to round out the 2008 regular season. With the loss against the Lions (6-8-5 overall, 4-6-1 WCC) The Dons (9-9-2 overall, 6-4-1 WCC) finish the season as the West Coast Conference Champions. Thanks to a Gonzaga loss Sunday, the Dons win the title outright and will represent the WCC in the NCAA Tournament, marking the 31st appearance in program history. Sunday's game was played under less-than perfect conditions with ash falling from the sky and heavy smoke due to the fires raging in Southern California.

Chinn's three goals in the contest marked the first time since 2002 that a Don has recorded a hat trick. During the 2002 campaign, Josh Hansen recorded a trio of goals against Saint Mary's on October 18. Sunday's three goals also propelled Chinn into a tie for 2nd place on the Don's single season goals list, tying him with Alex Nwosu (1977), Dag Olavsen (1978) and Tor Sveen (1982) on the list. The USF single-season all-time scored is Bjorn Tronstad, who scored 29 goals in 1979.

Chinn also extended his WCC record finishing league play with 14 goals and 29 points during conference contests. He has scored a scoring strike in seven straight contests, accounting for 11 goals, including three-game winners, in the span.

Jonathan Levi opened scoring on the afternoon at the 15:19 mark, when he took on the Lions' goalkeeper Jack McCormack in a one-on-one situation before putting the ball in the net near the opposite post.

Chinn recorded his first goal of the game less than eight minutes later. Chinn took the ball off his chest before volleying it into the lower left corner to give the Dons an early 2-0 advantage.

By the 40:31 mark, Loyola Marymount had tied the game at two, thanks to goals by Rafael Baca and Tyler Krumpe. USF regained a 3-2 lead at 43:01 as Chinn scored his second tally of the day. Levi fed Chinn a pass, before the native of San Diego, gave the Dons a lead with a goal in the lower corner.

Less than a minute before halftime, Phila DaSilva scored for LMU, tying the score 3-3. Within the opening 10 minutes of the second half, the Lions took a 5-3 lead with goals by Sharif Khatib and Vincent Ocampo.

Chinn completed the hat trick for USF at 55:36 in the second half to score his league leading 17th goal of the season.

LMU held a 17-6 shot advantage over San Francisco during the contest, while the Dons' Eric Conner posted four saves to the Lions none.

USF returns to the Hilltop to await the NCAA Tournament announcement on Monday. USF's first round opponent, game time and location will be revealed Monday at 3:00 PM (PT) on ESPN News. Additional information will be available on USFDons.com.