EUGENE, Ore.  – The Beacon men's soccer team needed just 23 seconds into the 2018 home season to get a score with what became a game-winner by Victor Irechukwu as NCU knocked off Simpson University on Tuesday, 1-0.
 
What will go down as the fastest goal in NCU history came as NCU created an early turnover before Luis Diaz  quickly fed a through-ball to Irechukwu. Irechukwu beat the last defender and punched the goal into the back of the net off an attempted block by the Redhawks keeper.
 
The previous record belonged to Jesse Figueroa who scored in the second minute of a game against Oregon Tech last season.
 
The final 89 minutes of the contest tested the NCU defense as they completed the shutout, allowing just three shots-on-goal to a Simpson team that scored five times in their last game. Julian Hernandez made big-time saves on all three scoring tries by the Redhawks and preserved his first clean sheet of the season.
 
NCU ended the game with a 12-8 advantage in shots and took nine shots-on-goal, resulting in eight saves for Simpson keeper Nyjel Buchanan.
 
With the start of the fall semester this week, NCU will take some time off from competition before heading back on the road for a September 7 game against the University of Puget Sound at 2:30 pm.