Rick McCarthy is showing early in his college career that he is a finisher.
The freshman from Michigan delivered his second goal in as many games Thursday, this one the game-winner in Westmont’s 1-0 soccer victory over Trinity Western of British Columbia in the opening game of the Azusa Pacific Cougar Classic.
McCarthy collected a long throw from Zach George near the top of the box and hit a low, hard left-footed shot past the goalkeeper in the 19th minute.
“They didn’t do a great job of dealing with the long throw from Zach,” said Westmont coach Dave Wolf.
In the Warriors’ exhibition game against UCSB, McCarthy jumped on a loose ball and scored on rocket shot from 25 yards.
Unfortunately for McCarthy and the Warriors, he had to leave Thursday’s game with an injury.
“He has a bit of a knee injury that we are concerned about,” Wolf said. “We don’t think he has any ligament damage, but he definitely has some trouble in his knee. That was an unfortunate part of the game for us.”
Wolf credited his defense for scrambling and clearing balls out of the box on several occasions
Wolf described the game was uneven and choppy. “But we came away with one and I guess at this point we will be satisfied with that,” he said.
The Warriors will return to Azusa on Saturday to play William Jessup at 2:30 p.m.
