Playing in the final game of the regular season, Hugo Pizano and Doug Harrell each scored twice as Westmont men’s soccer shutout Vanguard 4-0 on the Lions’ home field.
“It was and incredible performance. The best regular season performance I’ve seen in probably 10 years,” said Westmont Head Coach Dave Wolf. “They didn’t put a foot wrong the entire evening. It was a great way to end up the regular season.”
Westmont’s first goal came in the tenth minute of the game when Harrell collected a loose ball and fired off a shot from 18 yards out.
“Doug was the best player on a night when we had a bunch of very, very good players,” proclaimed Wolf. “It was a great individual effort. He shook a defender on the edge of the box and hammered a low hard shot. It got us off to a great start and continued what I think has been a really good stretch for him.”
In the twenty-seventh minute, Pizano gave the Warriors a 2-0 lead on a play that involved a bit of trickery.
“Isaac Thompkins got loose on the right hand side,” described the coach. “He beat the left back, pushed it by him and slotted a ball across the top of the box. Probably the key moment was when Daniel Sargent ran to the near post like he was going to finish it. But he dummied the ball, letting it run across the goal. Hugo was there to finish it off.”
Five minutes into the second half, Pizano scored again, hammering a ball from the top of the box to give the Warriors a 3-0 advantage. Harrell finished off the scoring in the sixty-sixth minute by heading in a cross from Harrison Hill.
The Warriors’ strength on the offensive end of the field was matched by its defensive effort. Though the Lions would fire off eight shots, none of them were on goal.
“We did a great job defensively,” said Wolf. “I thought the back four (Dillon Barna, Josh Webb, Zach George and Kameron Bechler) were superb. I also thought the reason that nothing really got through to the back four and to (goalkeeper) Matt (McNab) was because of the job Henry Sarmiento did in the holding, central midfield role. He was really good in that role and he is playing really well for us right now.”
As a result of the Warriors win and a tie between Fresno Pacific and Point Loma Nazarene, Westmont (7-7, 5-5 GSAC) moved into fifth place in the final Golden State Athletic Conference standings.
As the fifth seed in the GSAC postseason tournament which begins on Wednesday, the Warriors will travel to Irvine to take on #24 Concordia (9-6-2, 5-3-2 GSAC), the fourth seed. Concordia fell to California Baptist today by a score of 3-0.
“We had a whole host of guys who played well today,” said Wolf, “which is the most encouraging thing going into the post-season. I don’t know that Concordia’s loss today is a good thing for us. They are a veteran team and they will use the loss to get some things sorted out.
“We went to Concordia in the playoffs and won last year,” recalled Wolf. “That isn’t going to be easy to do this year. Last year, people weren’t as concerned about us. But with the combination of the run we went on last year and a good finish to the season this year, we’re not going to sneak up on anyone. We’re going to have to play them straight up and that will be tough. But I’m glad to be going into the postseason on a positive note and I don’t think we will be easy to play against either.”
Vanguard (7-7-3, 4-4-2 GSAC), which tied Fresno Pacific (8-6-2, 4-4-2 GSAC) for sixth place, will be the number six team and play at #20 Biola (12-3-1, 7-2-1 GSAC) which is the number three seed. Biola had a chance to win the GSAC Championships but fell to The Master’s by a score of 2-1.
As GSAC regular season champion and top-seed, #14 The Master’s (14-2-1, 9-1 GSAC) will host eighth-seeded California Baptist (5-6-4, 4-5-1 GSAC). Seventh-ranked and second-seeded Azusa Pacific (15-2, 8-2 GSAC) will play host to seventh-seeded Fresno Pacific in Wednesday’s first round.
