A penalty kick by Gerald Ben in the sixty-fourth minute drew Westmont (3-4-1, 0-2-1 GSAC) even with Hope International (6-4-1, 0-2-1) at one goal apiece and that is the way the Golden State Athletic Conference game would finish after the completion of regulation and two overtime periods.
“I thought that today was a very important game for our team,” said Westmont head coach Dave Wolf. “What we’ve done with the draw is to delay the importance and heaped it onto the next game, which will be a very difficult game against one of the top teams in our league in Biola. I think we are going to face the inevitable need to win games in our league.”
Ben’s successful PK came just four minutes after the Royals’ Matthew Howard scored to make it a 1-0 game. Matthews received a backward pass from Zach Hoffer and finished the play from just inside the box.
The Warriors were awarded the penalty kick when Will Bobo was taken down in the box while dribbling parallel to the goal.
“Will Bobo and Sean Siemens were bright spots for us,” said Wolf. “It was nice to get Sean back after being out for the better part of the past two games. There is a dimension that he brings to us going forward that is positive and helpful. Will had some good moments in the game today and he was key in terms of drawing the penalty kick to bring us level.”
The Warriors were outshot 23-16 by the Royals, though both teams had just four shots on goal. Westmont owned a 9-6 corner kick advantage but was unable to capitalize on the opportunities.
“I was disappointed in our passing quality today,” said Wolf. “I thought we were pretty poor for a decent part of the game.”
The game against Biola (5-3-1, 1-1) will be played on Saturday at Thorrington Field. Kick-off is scheduled for noon.
