For three halves of the home-and-home series with the University of New Mexico, the Grand Canyon University Men's Club Soccer Team's offense found the scoring opportunities scant.
 
That changed in a hurry Saturday night at the GCU Practice Soccer Field as the Lopes ran away from the Lobos in the second half en route to an impressive 4-0 shutout. The victory finished off a two-match sweep of the Lobos (GCU won, 2-1, nine days ago in Albuquerque, New Mexico) and kept the Lopes perfect in Southwest Soccer League play with a 3-0 mark.
 
Both matchups had a similar trend: one scoreless half. Last Sunday at UNM, the scoring drought came after the Lopes had built the 2-1 lead at halftime. Saturday afternoon, the two defenses picked up where they left off, stymieing the offenses for the first 51 minutes of the match. However, that same defensive aggressiveness that kept the Lobos even with GCU wound up as their downfall early in the second half when GCU's Roberto Perez was fouled inside the penalty area. That allowed the Lopes' Brian Asaije to power the penalty kick to the back of the net to break the scoreless tie. Suddenly, the Lopes' offense came alive as Luke Peterson, Tasyn Oosting and Palmer Goins all followed with goals over the match's next 15 minutes to seal the Lobos' fates. Oosting also added an assist as did Joseph Butzke, and Lopes' goalkeeper Gabriel Orozco took care of the rest in his first shutout between the pipes this season.
 
The Lopes' first matchup against an intrastate rival comes up this weekend as they stay home to host a huge showdown against the University of Arizona at 5PM Sunday at the GCU Practice Soccer Field on the GCU campus. Admission to the match is FREE.