Senior forward Andrew Schneider erased an early 1-0 deficit in the twentieth minute and then provided the game winner 50 minutes later as Westmont Men's Soccer (2-1) defeated Hawaii-Hilo (0-4) on Saturday night by a score of 2-1. The game was played at UC Santa Barbara's Harder Stadium.
"I had a lot of family and friends in the audience and normally I would try to make them my motivation," said Schneider after the game. "But tonight, I intentionally tried to focus on playing for God. I think I was more focused on playing for God in this game than I have ever been before."
The Vulcans scored in just the seventh minute of play. A Westmont defender cleared a corner kick by George Ichimaru beyond the top of the box but it found Hawaii-Hilo's Timothy Glick to be waiting. Glick launched a shot from 25 yards out and found the back of the net for the early score.
Schneider's first goal came 13 minutes later. One-on-one with Hawaii-Hilo keeper Ivan Mercado, Schneider fired from 12 yards out on the left. The keeper blocked the shot but the ball returned to Schneider who reloaded and fired again. The ball struck a defender standing in front of the goal and ricocheted into the net to tie the game at one.
The second-half goal came as a result of some nifty passing by the Warrior offense. Junior Daniel Torres received the ball at mid-field on the left sideline and dribbled forward on an angle toward the center of the field before passing to Schneider. The pass was intercepted by a Vulcan defender but deflected toward Westmont junior Harrison Hill on the left-hand side of the field. Hill passed the ball back to Torres who was now streaking down the center of the field. Torres used a single touch to relay the ball forward to Schneider on his right-hand side. Schneider was once again one-on-one with Mercado but this time his shot went directly into the net.
The Warriors will next play on Saturday, September 12 when they travel south to take on the Cougars of Cal State San Marcos as part of a men's and women's doubleheader. The women are scheduled to kick-off at one o'clock with the men following at three.
