By Zach DeMarcus
August 22, 2018
 
(MERCED, Calif.) Westmont Men's Soccer (0-2) suffered a 1-0 defeat at the paws of the UC Merced Bobcats (1-0) on the road this afternoon. Junior captain Lalo Delgado kept the Warriors in the game with nine saves between the posts.
 
Westmont head coach Dave Wolf said, "They were on top of us early and put us under a tremendous amount of pressure. We didn't cope with it real well, either in terms of our technical execution or our decision making. They turned us over and were able to turn that into an early goal. That has been a little bit of our undoing so far in this young season."
 
In the seventh minute, Artemio Contreras found the back of the net for the Bobcats for the lone goal of the day. Juan Flores was credited with the assist. The ball was served in from the right side and Wolf said, "We would have had to defend it perfectly to keep them from scoring. Their execution was better than our defending in that moment."
 
The Warriors were able to get their bearings together as Wolf added, "As the game went on we started getting more in the game. We got a little bit of a foothold and started moving the ball and getting the field changed. I think while they started the game as the better team we ended the game as the better team, but weren't able to do enough to equalize."
 
Wolf on Delgado's performance said, "I thought Lalo was really good today. He was really engaged in the game and I think that's a real credit to his character. Obviously, we've had a couple pretty tough outings in terms of conceding goals thus far. I was very proud of not only how he played but also how he led.
 
A few other Warrior performances caught the coach's eye. Wolf added, "Tyler Young gave us a good lift off the bench in the center forward channel. He had some good individual holds for us. That really started to change the game, because prior to that we weren't holding on to much at all. That was positive.
 
"I thought Lucky played at a really good level today and Mason Garell was good as well."
 
The Bobcats fired 19 shots – 11 of which were on target. The Warriors struggled to get five shots off and only two were on target.
 
"We never looked super dangerous in the final third. We got to the final third a bunch, but we never looked likely to do anything once we got there. Our score line of zero, I think it's reflective of the quality that we had in the final third of the field – it wasn't enough." Finished Wolf.
 
The Warriors return to the pitch this Saturday as they face #17 Rocky Mountain (Mont.) at home. Kickoff is scheduled for 1:00 p.m.