Doug Harrell will go down in Westmont’s history books after he scored the Warriors’ first-ever goal at brand-new Thorrington Field on Friday.
Too bad the junior forward didn’t have much time to enjoy it.
Harrell gave the Warriors the lead shortly after halftime only to have it taken away less than 90 seconds later by La Verne’s Mike Mancilla. Neither team could get the upper hand after the flurry of action and the non-conference match between Westmont and La Verne ended in a 1-1 draw.
“That was obviously a very, very disappointing moment,” Warriors head coach Dave Wolf said of the retaliation score, coming so soon after Harrell’s strike.
Doug Harrell is hugged while trying to get a shot off on Friday. Harrell scored Westmont’s goal and had a team-high five shots. (Presidio Sports Photo)
Harrell beat La Verne goalkeeper Jonathyn Lomeli by a whisker for his score. His shot came just as Lomeli came off his line to try and smother the threat. The shot deflected off of Lomeli but stayed on target.
Harrell took his celebration almost to midfield, running up the sideline and sliding on the grass directly in front of the Leopard bench before getting piled on by his teammates. It was Harrell’s first goal of the season after he scored six last season.
Mancilla and La Verne were the ones celebrating not much later, as Mancilla dribbled through several defenders to beat Warrior keeper Matthew McNab for an unassisted goal.
The Warriors remain unbeaten at 2-0-1 while La Verne, 0-0-1, was playing its season opener. The match was part of the 11th Heritage Club Classic, which continues on Saturday. Azusa Pacific defeated Holy Names 6-1 in the first game on Friday and will play La Verne on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. Westmont hosts Holy Names at 4 p.m.
Westmont and La Verne played out two overtime periods before settling on the tie. The Warriors controlled possession for most of the match and outshot La Verne 13-8, but couldn’t get it past Lomeli twice.
Wolf was looking for a better outcome.
“Discouraged that we couldn’t find a result today but I suppose the job – early in the season especially – is to keep the conference in mind,” he said. “And you hopefully get to a point where you’re finding your best team through these experiences. I don’t think that we’ve found that yet. So hopefully we can make some sense out of what happened today and take another step.”
Westmont will step back onto the pitch looking for its first win at Thorrington Field on Saturday at 4 p.m. Saturday’s game can also be seen via live webcast.
