By Jarred Davis
September 27, 2018
 
(SANTA BARBARA, Calif.) #17 Westmont Men's Soccer (5-2-2, 1-0-0 GSAC), outshot the Warriors of William Jessup (4-5-0, 0-0-1) by an enormous 27-3 margin and coasted to a 3-0 victory Thursday afternoon at Thorrington Field.
 
The win gave the home Warriors their first Golden State Athletic Conference win of the season and also some early confidence heading into conference play.
 
"We certainly do take some confidence with us moving forward after today's win," said Westmont head coach Dave Wolf.
 
In a relatively intense defensive match through the first thirty minutes of play, junior midfielder Panchito Castro connected with the back of the net, giving the Warriors a 1-0 lead after the assist came from Lucky Puengrod at the 32nd minute.

For the duo, it marked Castro's third goal on the year, while Puengrod was able to earn his second assist of the season.

"I think the first goal was really important to get it in the fashion we did," said Wolf. "It came out of a really discipline defensive close up here on the left flank that turned the ball over and got the sequence started."

In the 54th minute, freshman midfielder Sam Tuscano scored his first collegiate goal of his career, after he beat his defender at the top of the box and sent in a 12-yard strike to give the Warriors a 2-0 lead.

"Sam did a marvelous job of turning for that ball," said Wolf. "He's a pretty slippery player, he can break away, he can turn, he's pretty elusive, he's been really patient this year, in fact he and [Owen] have been really patient and it's just real nice to see them get a little reward."

In the 72nd minute of the game, freshman midfielder Owen Bates converted on his first goal as a Warrior, after Scott snuck through a beauty to Bates, as the freshman finished the job from there.

"We gotta throw some kudos to Collin Scott, he played a really important role in both the second and third goal," added Wolf. "He found a really, really clever ball in the middle of the field on the second goal to Lucky, he kind of squeezed the ball into a really tight place."

"I think it's a great start to the league, when you play in a league that is this tough, the home games are crucial, in fact they're doubly crucial, but the challenge is now we have to immediately put in behind us and move on to the next game."

Now that GSAC play has gotten underway, games will be played on a Thursday/Saturday format. The Warriors next game is this Saturday at home against #21 Menlo College. Kick-off is set for 12:00 p.m.