By Zach DeMarcus
October 28, 2017
 
(SANTA CLARITA, Calif.) Westmont Men's Soccer (8-4-3, 7-3 GSAC) dropped their final game of the regular season by a score of 1-0 to The Master's (11-5-2, 6-4 GSAC).
 
The loss doesn't affect Westmont's ranking in the GSAC – as they had clinched the number two seed with their win last weekend.
 
Westmont head coach Dave Wolf said, "I actually thought it was a very good performance. In some ways it was almost the exact opposite of our last game with The Master's. I felt like we stole one at our place. I think today was a little bit of the opposite of that. I think they probably feel a bit fortunate to get out with the result."
 
Trevor Mangan scored the lone goal of the game for The Master's in the 63^rd minute.
 
"We had a little bit of a miscue in our back row. The miscue bounced well for them and basically ended up with a breakaway," explained Wolf. "They cleared a ball and we didn't handle it as well as we should have and they capitalized. It was probably the one big error that we made. Unfortunately it ended up being the game winner."
 
There were a few Warriors that stood out for Wolf. "I thought Yazi Hernandez was really good. I think he was our best player on the day. He just keeps getting better and more comfortable in that center forward channel. The other guy I would highlight is Nate Ruble. He played the entire 90 minutes at right back. Just was really terrific on the day."
 
Despite the loss Wolf found positives. "I think one reality is that you tend to get your team's attention a little more after a loss. My hope is from a focus and concentration point of view we can parlay this into a positive for our preparation (for playoffs).
 
"I think it's probably a real good reminder – that they are about to enter into the phase of the season where if you lose again you're done. Maybe from a timing perspective this will get us in that mode of knock out games."
 
Moving forward, Westmont, as the two seed, will get a first round bye through the Golden State Athletic Conference tournament. Next Friday, The Master's will host Menlo and Arizona Christian will play at Hope International. Between the winners of those games, the highest seed will play Westmont and the lower seeded team will play top-seeded Vanguard.
 
Westmont is the host site for the GSAC semifinals and finals. The semifinals are scheduled for November 9. The Vanguard game will kick off at 11:00 a.m. with the Westmont game following at 2:00 p.m.
 
Westmont will host the championship game on Saturday, November 11 at two o'clock.