By Ron Smith
September 29, 2018
 
(SANTA BARBARA, Calif.) Despite a goal from Gabriel McEwen in the 32nd minute, #17 Westmont Men's Soccer (5-3-2 1-1 GSAC) suffered a 2-1 Golden State Athletic Conference loss to #21 Menlo (7-2, 1-0) on Saturday at Thorrington Field.
 
"I think that way I would sum it up in general is that we just weren't good enough today to beat a good team," said Westmont head coach Dave Wolf after the game. "I thought a third of our performance was pretty good, I thought a third was okay, but I thought a third was below par. We had too long a period of that today against a team that had the capability to hurt you if you were in that place too long.
 
"We really struggled to pass the ball the first 30 minutes of the game. That was the most glaring thing to me."
 
The Oaks of Menlo got on the board first, scoring in the 18th minute when Eric Hegmann headed in a cross by Noa Keer.
 
Westmont scored the equalizer 14 minutes later. Mason Garell sent a ball from the left touchline in front of the Warriors' bench across the midfield to Lucky Puengrod. The junior transfer from Loyola Marymount turned and dribbled toward the goal.
 
"A lot of the goal was the result of Lucky and his individual quality," said Wolf. "He got on a ball and knifed into a little gap. It was a good individual effort by him. He slid the ball across to Gabe who was in a good position to finish it."
 
McEwen, running on a diagonal across the face of the goal from left to right, stretched out his right foot and redirected the ball past the Oaks' keeper.
 
"Right now, we are reliant on Lucky to make plays for us," said Wolf. "He is coming through, but we need more than just that right now. Lucky got things started for us positively on Thursday as well, and even going back to Azusa Pacific, he scored the goal in that game by making a play by himself. He is definitely producing, but we need some other players in the attack to join him."
 
The game winner for Menlo came in the 51st minute when Luis Nunez fired off a shot from 23 yards out into the side netting.
 
"I didn't think we were bad, but I thought playing against a ranked team and playing in a GSAC game that had a lot of meaning attached to it, we weren't good enough to win in that setting."
 
Despite the loss, Wolf also saw some encouraging aspects of the game.
 
"I thought Tyler Young gave us a nice boost off the bench today," said Wolf. "I think Sam Tuscano continues to make an impact. He is starting to get some minutes and has made some contributions in the final third of the field. It was good to get Zach Godeck back on the field too. He hasn't played a lot recently due to his ankle injury, so it was nice to get him back in the mix a little bit."
 
Next up for the Warriors is a trip to Costa Mesa on Saturday, October 6, to take on the Lions of Vanguard. Kick-off is scheduled for 2:30 p.m.