Scottsdale, AZ- Arizona Christian could not repeat the same winning formula on Wednesday against Hope International as they did earlier in the season.  Playing a day later than scheduled due to rain, the Royals beat the Firestorm 3-1 at the Scottsdale Sports Complex.  Sophomore Anthony Archuleta scored the ACU goal.

HIU attempted the first two shots of the day before Archuleta missed an good opportunity 15 minutes in as his low driven shot from close range was pushed just past the goal by HIU goalkeeper Manuel Madrigal.

Senior Jesse Gerkey missed high and Junior Nicholas Palomares had his attempt blocked before the Royals opened the scoring in the 32nd minute.  A low shot by Hope International took a weird hop over the outstretched diving body of ACU Junior goalkeeper Drew Cline and carried into the goal.

Eight minutes later, HIU used a rebounded shot on an initial nice save from Cline to grab a 2-0 edge.

After the break, Arizona Christian came out fired up as they attempted three of the half's first four shots in a five minute span.  Junior Luis Tapia played a ball that freed Archuleta behind the Hope International back line and Archuleta finished the fourth shot of the half into the left corner of the net to get ACU back within one at 2-1.  For Archuleta, it was his second goal of the season.

Palomares hit a shot wide left and Senior Kenny McAvoy hit a hard shot but right at Madrigal.

Upon falling behind 3-1 in the 71st minute, the Firestorm had three more chances including a shot off the crossbar by Senior Bernardo Venancio but ACU could not close the gap.

The Firestorm return to action and hopefully their regular home field of Rose Mofford Park on Saturday when they host Vanguard.  The teams are set to kick off at 1:30 pm.