The ninth-ranked Cougars of Azusa Pacific (6-2-2, 3-0 GSAC) may have had revenge on their minds when they arrived at Russ Carr Field on Wednesday afternoon.
Last year, Westmont men’s soccer handed Azusa Pacific it’s only loss of the season, defeating the eventual national champions in the first round of the NAIA Region II Tournament by a score of 2-1 in overtime. Westmont would certainly have liked to have made it two wins in a row over the Cougars. But it was not to be as Azusa Pacific claimed a 2-0 victory in the Golden State Athletic Conference contest.
The Warriors (4-5, 1-3 GSAC) held the Cougars scoreless for the first thirty-five minutes before Nathan Nienhuis ripped the ball into the upper left-hand corner from 15 yards out to give Azusa Pacific a 1-0 advantage.
“I thought we were pretty good out of the gate,” said head coach Dave Wolf. “In a game like that it is important not to concede something early which makes it an uphill battle. The first goal did not come until the thirty-sixth minute. There was some quality in us in the start of the second half as well. From a physical standpoint, I felt like we still had something in us in the second half.”
The Warriors held possession for much of the first 10-12 minutes of the second half, but were unable to turn the ball control into points on the scoreboard.
“Maybe the starkest difference between the two teams is the quality of (Azusa Pacific’s) ball striking,” noted Wolf about the team coached by his brother, Phil. “When they get a chance to shoot on goal, they hit the target. When they have a change to switch the field, they switch the field.”
Of Azusa Pacific’s 14 shots, eight were counted as shots on goal and two more deflected off the frame of the goal.
The Cougar’s second goal came in seventy-third minute of play when Ashkon Banihashemi passed the ball to Josh Salas who scored from near the top of the box.
Despite the loss, the Warriors will take some positives from their encounter with the Cougars into Saturday’s game with Point Loma Nazarene (4-6-1, 0-3) in San Diego.
“I felt like our strikers did a better job holding the ball today under tougher conditions,” assessed Wolf. “Jake Joyner and Schoffy (Jon Schoff) and to some degree Sarge (Dan Sargent) did a better job in that area. It wasn’t enough to help create chances, but it was an improvement against a much higher quality opponent over where I thought we were last game.”
