Westmont Men’s Soccer (3-0-2) picked up its first win on Thorrington Field on Saturday as the Warriors defeated Cal State San Marcos (2-3-1) by a score of 2-1.
Westmont’s Doug Harrell scored the first goal in the thirty-ninth minute on a penalty kick after the Cougars were called for a handball in the box. The Warriors held on for the next six minutes to take the 1-0 advantage into halftime.
“I thought that after we scored, our concentration level was good,” said Westmont head coach Dave Wolf. “On a couple of other occasions (this season), we have conceded goals right after scoring. But we kept our concentration and that is a positive step for our team.”
After the half, Wolf made a change in his formation, moving 6-6 freshman Peter Schmetz from the front lines, to a defensive position.
“You don’t often have a player that is equally adept at playing both center forward and center back,” noted Wolf when asked about the move. “The reason that we moved Peter is two-fold. Number one is that we anticipated a greater onslaught of longer passes and longer throws. The other reason we is that when Peter plays in the back, we have a little more flexibility in rotating our backs.”
Thirteen minutes into the second half, the Warriors struck again. Scott Williams lofted a corner kick to the near side of the goal. Schmetz got to the ball in the air and headed it over to Anthony Niboli on the far side of the goal. Niboli fired away from five yards out and put the Warriors up 2-0.
The Cougars responded in the seventy-ninth minute off a long throw-in that Sterling Petersen deflected into the net. However, CSU San Marcos could not find the equalizer before the sound of the final horn.
The Warriors out-shot the Cougars 12-11 with Westmont putting eight of its shots on goal compared to six for CSU San Marcos. The Cougars enjoyed a 5-2 corner kick advantage but did not convert on their opportunities. Westmont keeper Matthew McNab tallied five saves while Kevin Ernst of CSU San Marcos posted six.
The Warriors travel to Prescott, Arizona next weekend for two games. On Friday, Westmont will take on Embry-Riddle (Ariz.). Then on Saturday, the Warriors will face off against Rocky Mountain of Montana.
