By Zach DeMarcus
November 9, 2017
 
(SANTA BARBARA, Calif.) Westmont Men's Soccer (9-4-3) defeated The Master's (12-6-2) in this afternoon's Golden State Athletic Conference Tournament semifinal game by a score of 3-1. The victory puts the Warriors in the GSAC Tournament championship game, to be played on their home field this Saturday.
 
This was the third time the two teams have met in the past 26 days. Westmont head coach Dave Wolf said, "At this time of the year, there's a lot of familiarity that the teams have with each other.
 
"We challenged the guys on the notion that on our two previous games against The Master's this year they scored first. The challenge was, 'let's put them in that situation.' I think when that goal went in there was a sense of checking off a box – in terms of going up first. Credit it to them, they obviously didn't go away," added Wolf.
 
It only took Westmont nine minutes to meet their coach's challenge. Jonathan Romero switched a ball across the field to the speedy Jeremiah Anderson who then took a touch and whipped in a cross just outside the reach of Gabe Thurner. Luckily, senior Yazi Hernandez made his run to be at the back post, where he one touched the ball past the keeper to give Westmont the early lead.
 
Hernandez said, "I was looking for that back run and I knew Gabe was in the middle and if he didn't get to it then I'd be in the back to finish it. It was a good run by Jerry and he gave a good cross, and I was lucky to be in the right spot to put it away."
 
The Warriors defended well throughout the half and had another offensive opportunity in the 45^th minute. There was a loose ball in the box and a Mustang defender slid to clear it away, he kicked it right to an aggressive Francisco Panchito Castro who fired a shot to the upright corner of the net, giving Westmont a 2-0 advantage heading into halftime.
 
The Master's weren't done yet. In the 53^rd minute they packed the box with attackers. Daniel Smith went to shoot and the ball was blocked by a Warrior defender. The ball found its way to Trevor Mangan where he ripped a shot through traffic past Westmont keeper Lalo Delgado.
 
The Warriors responded immediately and aggressively looked for an opportunity to retain their two goal advantage. Two minutes later Tim Heiduk fired a shot destined for the top left corner but it was punched away by the Mustang's diving keeper, Casey Phillips.
 
Wolf said, "I thought the response after the goal was a little more of what I had in mind prior to the goal being scored. In this sport, sometimes it takes a little bit of a jolt to get you where you need to be."
 
Defensively, Westmont was right where they wanted to be. With the exception of their first game of the season, where they gave up three goals, Westmont had not given up more than one goal all year. Wolf commented, "We have been really consistent in terms of not giving up much."
 
The Warriors added on the finishing touches to a fine game in the 80^th minute. Dash Wulterin played a ball out wide to Anderson who passed to Hernandez at the top of the box. Hernandez then turned and played a ball softly in front of freshman Jose Vasquez who hit it with his left foot past the keeper for his first goal of his young career. The goal put Westmont ahead by the final score of 3-1.
 
Hernandez said, "That was a good feeling because I'd been trying to get Jose a goal all season. Finally I got him that pass and he was able to finish for us, and give us the game."
 
Hernandez finished with a goal and an assist. Wolf said, "I think Yazi's a senior who's playing good at the end of his career – he doesn't want it to end. You can really see that and hear it in his tone. He's intense in all the right ways right now."
 
Westmont is set to play Hope International for the GSAC Tournament Championship on Saturday. The Warriors won the only meeting between the two teams by a score of 2-1 in overtime.
 
Wolf added, "When we got together for training camp on August 4 in our orientation meeting we said, 'November 11, somebody is going to lift a trophy on our field. Let's make sure we give ourselves an opportunity to be that team.' I give them a lot of credit for reaching that point."
 
"I don't want to end my season at home on a loss, so we're going to give it everything we got and get that championship on Saturday," said Hernandez.
 
Saturday's GSAC Tournament championship kick-off is set for 2:00 p.m. at Thorrington Field.