By Zach DeMarcus
September 21, 2017
 
(SANTA BARBARA, Calif.) Westmont Men's Soccer (2-1-3, 1-0 GSAC) won their Golden State Athletic Conference opener over William Jessup (3-5-1, 0-1) this afternoon. Westmont used a combination of great offense and defense to surge to a 3-0 victory.
 
Augie Andrade scored to get Westmont on the board in the 36^th minute. Andrade had the ball at the top of the goal box and passed to Gabe Thurner to his right. Thurner took a dribble and crossed the ball back to Andrade, where he then finished the ball past the keeper.
 
With three different players scoring their first goals of the season today, Westmont head coach Dave Wolf said, "We got somebody on the score sheet other than Tyler Young! We exceeded our entire goal output of the season up until this point. As much as anything, to be honest, I just feel relieved. That's the predominant impression right now."
 
Westmont has been searching for an offensive spark throughout their young season, and today was a welcome step in the right direction.
 
William Jessup threatened in in the 22^nd minute when Christian Guzman took a free kick 10 yards outside the penalty area. Guzman's shot deflected off the wall in front of him and top spun towards the goal. Lalo Delgado leapt up to nudge the ball up and off the crossbar for a spectacular save.
 
Wolf when describing the first half said, "I actually think that we'll be happier with the first half. The conditions were tough today. It was blustery, and we played against the wind in the first half. I thought we did a decent job of keeping the ball despite the conditions."
 
Westmont added to their lead in the 60^th minute. Andrade played a ball to Nate Ruble, who dribbled once from the right side then crossed the ball to a running Collin Scott. Scott then headed the ball to the back of the net from the left side of the six-yard box.
 
Defense continued to be steady for Westmont. Wolf said, "Our defense, for the entire non-conference schedule, had to be nails just to keep us in games, because we weren't getting goals. For them to see us bag a few today was a nice reward for all the work they've done. They've been carrying us so far."

Westmont scored their final goal in the 67^th minute. A William Jessup defender was waiting for a ball to slowly role out of play that would have awarded them a goal kick, but Andrade sped by the defender and stole the ball right at the end line. He then passed the ball back to Yazi Hernandez. Hernandez one touched the ball past the keeper to extend Westmont's advantage to the final score of 3-0.
 
The win brings Westmont to 1-0 in GSAC play which is exactly where they wanted to be after today's home game. Wolf said, "I think it's a tough enough league that you are trying to win your home games and then you're trying to steal points on the road. It's nice to get the three points in the opener because we'll have difficult road contests moving forward."
 
Now that GSAC play has begun, games will be played on a Thursday/Saturday rotation. Westmont's next game is this Saturday at home against last year's co-champion Menlo College. Kick-off is set for 12:00 p.m.