By Zach DeMarcus
November 18, 2017
 
(TORRANCE, Calif.) Westmont Men's Soccer (10-5-3) lost in tonight's NAIA Opening Round game against the Mariners of Marymount (15-3-3) by a score of 3-1. Westmont struck first, but Marymount's offense proved to be too much in the end for the Warriors.
 
It only took the Warriors seven minutes to kick the scoring off. Jeremiah Anderson headed a ball to Augie Andrade, who had gotten through the defense. Andrade was one-on-one with Marymount's keeper Ramon Garcia and slipped the ball under Garcia's left hand to the back of the goal – giving Westmont an early 1-0 advantage.
 
"In some ways, the early goal maybe woke them up. Then they blitzed us. I think that their physicality, size, and talent overwhelmed us for a period of time," said Westmont head coach Dave Wolf.
"We definitely wobbled. We conceded two goals quickly and had a spell of about 10 or 12 minutes where we couldn't answer them at all."
 
Marymount hit a ball off the crossbar in the 23^rd minute, and struck gold in the 29^th minute when Marymount had a free kick just outside of the box. The free kick sent Westmont keeper Lalo Delgado diving to his right and making a save. The ball was then loose in the air and Enrique Amador followed with a header and sent the ball to the back right corner of the net to equal the score at one.
 
Just over two minutes later, in the 31^st minute, the Mariners scored again. A ball was sent to the right side for Tristan Wehner. He then whipped in a cross, finding the head of Josep Morego who sent the ball past Delgado, putting up the Mariners 2-1.
 
The score remained 2-1 heading in to halftime. Westmont had a few chances early in the second half to equalize the score – none bigger than when Anderson caught a defender sleeping as he sent a lazy pass to the keeper. Anderson sprinted past the defender and met the ball before it got to the keeper and slid, attempting to slip the ball in the goal. Garcia made a terrific save keeping the ball in front of him.
 
Wolf said, "I think the back pass that Jerry almost got to was probably our opportunity. He did great to get to that ball, and their keeper did really well to keep that out. That was a very critical moment."
 
The Mariners added on to their lead in the 73^rd minute. They had a crisp passing play that finished with Barak Moshe assisting Enrique Amador for his second goal of the evening. This brought the game to its eventual final score of 3-1.
 
Wolf said, "I thought in the second half we were good. I thought the group that was on at the start of the second half got us into a different mindset and a different mentality. The first half was a struggle for us and we paid a heavy price for that struggle. It was well deserved by them.
 
"I told them before the game that regardless of how things went today it wouldn't change the way that I feel about them, the year they've had, and in some cases the careers they've had. I think they've been terrific this year," added Wolf. "It's been awhile since we've been in a national tournament. When you haven't been to one in a while – getting back is hard. It takes a special team to break through. These guys will be remembered as the team that did that."
 
This is the first time since 2008 that Westmont has played in an NAIA National Championship game. It is also the first time since the same year that the Warriors have won the Golden State Athletic Conference Tournament Championship.
 
Wolf finished with, "I thought the guys, in the end, dealt very maturely with the year and the different challenges that we faced. I think the challenges we faced this year had a certain uniqueness to them – there were a couple moments where the fibers of our team could have been irreparably damaged by the stuff that went on. To their credit, they didn't let that happen and they stuck together.
 
"Winning the GSAC Tournament is not an easy thing to do in such a tough league. I think when the dust settles we are going to look back at a lot of aspects of this year and I think the conclusion we'll reach is – these guys really accomplished a lot," thought Wolf.
 
The loss concludes the 2017 GSAC Tournament champion's season, and with taste of the national tournament fresh in their mouths they will no doubt be hungry for more next season.