Westmont Men's Soccer (7-3-5, 2-3-3 GSAC) outshot Hope International (7-8-1, 2-5-1) by a margin of 23-9 in Saturday's Golden State Athletic Conference game at Thorrington Field, but the Warriors had to settle for a 1-1 tie after two overtime periods. It was a game Westmont head coach Dave Wolf had looked to in order to pick up points in the conference standings.
"I told the guys that we had an opportunity to take a big step today in the direction of the postseason," said Wolf. "What we ended up with was a small half-step. It still is a small half-step because it is a team that is behind us and they didn't gain ground on us.
"(Hope International) fought and battled (today) and they have had some good results along the way – as good as we have," continued the coach. "When you see two teams that are close to each other in conference you expect a close game. The (standings) table doesn't lie. The points are what the points are."
The points on the field, today, were hard to come by for both squads. Westmont's lone goal came in the sixty-fifth minute when Nana Akyen got possession of the ball and dribble toward the net before burying the ball in the lower left corner from ten yards out.
But the opening of the scoreboard did not result in Warrior points to follow. Instead it appeared to rally the Royals. In the seventy-seventh minute, Edgar Bran received a pass from Jesus Ramos, then scored from eight yards.
"I think the frustration for me is that we have played eight GSAC games now and had no shutouts," said Wolf. "In all but two of our games, we have scored first and have not been able to see out the game. For whatever reason, we lack some maturity. In order to weather storms and pitch shutouts, you have to have a mature team.
"We have a lot of mature guys," clarified the coach, "but somehow that doesn't get into our club. Scott Williams and Dan Sargent are as mature as any two college kids you'd want to meet. But somehow we can't get their personal characteristics (from) off the field into the team on the field."
As a result of the tie, the Warriors have given up any chance of a first round home game in the upcoming GSAC Tournament, which begins on Wednesday, November 3. Instead, they find themselves fighting for a place in the field of eight tournament participants.
Currently, the Warriors are tied with Point Loma Nazarene (6-9, 3-6) for seventh place in the conference standings. However, Westmont has two more games in which to pick up points while the Sea Lions have just one. Westmont will play at The Master's (6-5-3, 3-4-1) on Wednesday before hosting #17 Vanguard (8-7, 7-1) in the regular season finale on Saturday. Point Loma is at Fresno Pacific (8-7, 5-3) on Saturday.
The Sea Lions and Warriors are just one point behind The Master's in sixth place and three behind fifth-place Biola (6-8-1, 4-4). In addition to playing Westmont, The Master's will play at Biola on Saturday.
Just behind the Warriors and Sea Lions is Concordia (7-6-2, 2-4-2) with eight points and Hope International with seven. Concordia will finish the season by hosting Hope International on Wednesday and #9 California Baptist (13-2, 7-1) on Saturday. Hope International will complete the season by hosting San Diego Christian on Saturday.
If the Warriors win out, they will be in the GSAC Tournament as no lower than the seventh seeded team. They could increase their seeding to as high as five, depending on the results of other games. If the Warriors falter, however, they could miss the tournament entirely.
