Senior midfielder Hugo Pizano scored twice as Westmont men’s soccer romped to a 6-0 Golden State Athletic Conference win over San Diego Christian (3-6, 0-3 GSAC) on Saturday afternoon in El Cajon. The Warriors scored five goals in the first half to improve their record to 4-2 overall and 2-0 in GSAC play.
“We obviously scored some goal,” said Westmont Head Coach Dave Wolf. “That always is a good feeling and infuses a lot of confidence in the team. I think we are starting to find some continuity in our line up. We haven’t had that thus far this year. But today we played a similar lineup to the one we used against Cal Baptist with the exception of Kameron Bechler who did not play today. I think the continuity piece has started to come into focus a little bit and that helps to define the roles. I think guys are a little clearer on what is being asked of them. The team is in a nice place right now.”
Bechler was injured in last Saturday’s game against California Baptist and was replaced by Josh Webb. Bechler is expected to return to training next week.
Pizano scored the first goal in just the fifth minute of the game on a 25 yard free kick.
“Hugo really got us started,” said Wolf. “It was a free kick, and while the goalkeeper was getting the wall set, Hugo caught him focused on other things. He curled the ball into the far corner of the goal. It was a ball strike that was in quality was very similar to the goal against Cal Baptist. He is definitely in a good groove right now.”
Four minutes later, the Warriors made it 2-0 when Daniel Guzman and Scott Williams team up with Daniel Torres.
“Daniel Guzman served a ball to the back post that Scotty volleyed out of the air back across the mouth of the goal to Daniel Torres’ head,” reported Wolf.
Pizano and Torres teamed up for the third goal which looked like a mirror image to a goal scored last Saturday.
“Hugo got a ball off of a short corner on the left-hand side,” said Wolf. “Instead of driving it to the near post like he did in the Cal Baptist game, he actually curled it to the far post. He’s a hot player. Right now he looks like he can do just about anything he wants to do with the ball”
The Warriors extended their advantage in the thirty-second minute when senior forward Andrew Schneider scored off a pass from Justin Miller.
“Justin got forward on the right-hand side and got a ball slotted across the goal,” said Wolf. “It was a seeing-eye ball from the right flank that went through a maze of people. Schneids was playing left-midfield at that time and he just came running on to it and hit it first time.”
Dan Sargent scored the final goal of the half when he converted a penalty kick in the forty-second minute.
“Sarge was the one who was fouled,” noted Wolf. “The ball got served into the box and the keeper wiped him out. Sarge has been playing good soccer but he hasn’t gotten on the score sheet yet. We felt like it was a good opportunity to get him going so we had him take the PK.”
The only goal of the second half came in the seventy-eight minute off the foot of Doug Harrell who was assisted by Ben Gordon.
“Benny got a ball played to him on the right side,” said Wolf. “While that ball was in route, Doug made a run into the box and Ben found him with a really neat first-time pass. Doug took the chance and that rounded out the scoring for us.”
The Warriors out shot the Hawks 23-6 and held a 7-1 corner kick advantage.
Goalkeeper Matthew McNab, who had suffered from the flu all week and was not expected to play, recorded his second shutout of the year and tallied two saves.
“Matt hadn’t trained all week,” said Wolf. “We sent him home on Thursday to see if he could get a better quality rest. Today’s game was the first thing he had done since the Cal Baptist game. He felt well enough to meet us at the game today. He played and ended up getting the shutout. He was not a 100%, so we tried as much as possible to not involve him. It was a good game from that vantage point. Matt didn’t have a ton to do but when he was called upon he responded well. Having him in goal was definitely a positive.”
The Warriors will return to action next week with two games in Santa Barbara. On Tuesday afternoon, Westmont will host Biola at Lovik Field on the Westmont campus. Kick off is scheduled for three o’clock. Then on Saturday, the Warriors will host Concordia at La Playa Stadium on the campus of Santa Barbara City College
