MORAGA, Calif. -- After Saint Mary's and Pacific played more than three quarters of its match today to a scoreless draw, it appeared the two teams' goalkeepers might share Man of the Match honors.

A goalkeeper would, eventually, be the hero of the match.  But, for an entirely different reason than one would expect.

Saint Mary's reserve keeper Lucas Champenois played eight minutes of the second half at the forward position for Adam Cooper's injury-depleted side and converted a 78th minute penalty to lift Saint Mary's to a 1-0 victory over Pacific in the Gaels' final non-conference match of the season.

The victory pushed SMC to a 7-3-2 record in non-league play, giving the Gaels a .667 winning percentage - the best in program history.  Pacific, in its first year of having a men's soccer program since 1985, fell to 2-8-0 overall.

"Overall, I feel very positive about the way we've played the last 10 games," said Cooper, who's side has lost just once since dropping its first two matches of the season in late August.  "We've had to make a lot of adjustments with our personell.  As a group, our guys keep figuring out ways to keep battling and getting results.  

At the end of the day it doesn't matter who is on the field.  Our expectation is to go out there and win every match, especially at home."

Saint Mary's opens its 7-game West Coast Conference schedule Friday with a 7 p.m. match at the University of San Diego.  The Gaels remain in Southern California for a Sunday afternoon match at Loyola Marymount.  Links to live coverage of both matches will be available on SMCGaels.com.

The Gaels outshot Pacific by an 18-8 margin with seven of their shots finding the frame.  The Tigers' freshman keeper, Josh Adachi, registered six saves, including four in the final 45 minutes.  

SMC nearly got on the board midway in the first half.  Senior Michael Semenza took a pass from Gerardo Mendoza, raced down the right side and sent a hard cross into the penalty area.  Emmanuel Sarabia beat a Pacific defender to gain possession, took a quick touch into space and sent a right-footed shot past Adachi for what appeared to be the first goal of the game.

However, the referee called a foul on Pacific for a sliding challenge on Semenza's cross and nullified the score.

In the 78th minute, after a brief stoppage of play due to an injury to Pacific's Richie Lee, the Gaels' took a throw-in just in front of its bench area.  Redshirt freshman Nathan Grixti sent a shot from 20 yards out that was handled in the penalty area by a Pacific player.

Champenois, a native of Mountain View, calmly stepped to the spot and sent a low shot into the lower left corner for the game-winner.  The goal will go down in history as the first goal on the new Saint Mary's Stadium turf.

"We've seen Champ hit PKs in practice so there was no question we had all the confidence in the world that he could make it," said Cooper.  "For him to step on the field in win a couple of tackles, bring energy and make a difference in the game was absolutely brilliant." 

The game marked the first of the season in the newly-refurbished Saint Mary's Stadium.  The facility received an entirely new natural grass surface and a new state-of-the-art scoreboard.

The playing surface has earned rave reviews from Cooper and the players in its inaugural weekend of use.

"I thought the field played great," said Cooper.  "We are going to be really excited to come back here in a couple of weeks for our next home game after the grass gets even more settled.  Our players really like playing on the surface and, with the upgrades, I think we now have one of the best soccer facilities in our conference."

---

RECOMMENDED FOR YOU

Men's NCAA Tournament First Round Recap

TeamRank Presented By TeamSnap - Boys

Midwest High School Roundup - Nov.