By
Ron Smith
A pair of penalty kicks accounted for all of the scoring on Monday afternoon as Westmont Men's Soccer posted a 2-0 Golden State Athletic Conference win over San Diego Christian. The game completes a successful two-game road trip that improves the Warriors'' record to 7-4 overall and 4-2 in GSAC play.
"I thought the first half performance of our team was very good," said Westmont head coach
Dave Wolf. "It is a difficult place to play – very warm, very small field. We had a bit of a nightmare down here last year losing a game in overtime 3-2. We knew it would be a challenging environment and we knew that we would not be able to play the way we typically like to play.
"I thought when we needed to be a little bit safer and more direct, we did that. And when we had opportunities to pass the ball and to move it on the ground we did that. I thought we were pretty good about reading the situations we were in."
The first goal came in the 18th minute after
Austin Lack drew a foul in the box.
"The first foul came off of a set piece where the ball got served into the box and then was bobbled around," said Wolf. "Austin was the quickest to react to it and the keeper fouled him."
Gabe Thurner took the penalty kick for Westmont, giving the Warriors a 1-0 lead.
The final goal was scored in the 37th minute.
"
Jeremiah Anderson got ahold of the ball in the right-hand corner of the box," recalled Wolf. "He tried to take a defender on to get himself more in a central position and his jersey was grabbed."
Thurner was out of the game at the time and not eligible to return until halftime. So, it fell to
Augie Andrade to score the Warriors' second goal.
"Even if Gabe had still been on the field, I am not necessarily a proponent of the same guy taking a second penalty," noted Wolf.
Lalo Delgado picked up his second shutout of the road trip (third of the year) while tallying six saves.
"Anytime you get two clean sheets, especially on the road, that's a good two days," said Wolf.
"I thought a couple of guys had a breakthrough weekend for us," offered Wolf. "One was
Yazi Hernandez. He got a couple of assists for us on Saturday against Arizona Christian and I thought today played on both sides of the ball very well. His confidence level and his fitness level are getting better and better.
"Someone else who was really good on the weekend was
Collin Scott. He had two of his longer stints of the year. He got some good looks at goal, he created some danger serving the ball and he chased back defensively. It was a really good weekend for him."
The Warriors return to Santa Barbara to prepare for Saturday's Homecoming match up with Hope International (10-0-2, 4-0), who currently sits atop the GSAC standings. Kick-off is scheduled for 12:00 p.m.
