ORANGE, Calif. — Caltech Men's Soccer faced off against Chapman University on Wednesday in a close battle that saw outstanding performances from sophomore goalkeeper Ethan Hamel (Portola Valley, Calif. / Woodside) and first-year forward Matthew Luk (Bel Air, Md. / C. Milton Wright) to keep Caltech in the game.

In the first few minutes of the second half Luk scored his sixth career goal off an assist from junior forward Jack Myles (Houston, Texas / Bridgeland) for the Beavers' first score of the match, cutting Chapman's lead in half at 2-1. Defensively Hamel made five of his six saves in the second half, allowing no goals.

Chapman had multiple opportunities early with three consecutive corner kicks within a minute, but Caltech played soundly and did not allow a clean look for the Panthers. After the third corner kick, Chapman had another shot attempt only 20 seconds later but did not score with the Beaver defense making a team save.

The two squads went back and forth with neither team finding many gaps before Chapman found the back of the net in the 19th minute of play. After trailing 0-1, Caltech pressed offensively, creating a shot attempt by junior midfielder Etienne Casanova (San Jose, Calif. / Saratoga) that was fired to the bottom right side of the net, but Chapman's goalkeeper made the save. Six minutes later the offense produced another scoring chance this time with a shot at the lower center of the net by first-year midfielder Dean Yao (Philadelphia / Germantown Friends), but this one was again collected by the opposing keeper.

After a second Chapman goal, Caltech had a string of shot opportunities with another shot by Casanova, one by Myles, and a pair of corner kicks. Unable to connect, Chapman got another shot off in the final two minutes of the half, but a nice save by Hamel kept the Panthers lead at two.

Coming into the second half of the match Caltech wasted no time putting pressure on the Chapman defense before Myles found Luk for a massive goal from the left side of the box just under four minutes in, putting the Beavers on the board and keeping them alive. After the early score, Caltech got some more shots off with two more from Casanova, a few corner kicks, and a shot by senior forward Andy Dimnaku (Wellesley, Mass. / Wellesley). The team had its final scoring chance in the last ten minutes of the game with a shot on goal by Casanova who finished with six shots and four on goal.

The Beavers played relentlessly to the end of the match and will continue with the road games as they head to Occidental College for a 7:00 p.m showdown on Saturday, Oct. 19. Follow the action at GoCaltech.com/coverage.