By Rob Goodrow
November 13, 2019
 
(SANTA BARBARA, Calif.) The NAIA #4 ranked Westmont men's soccer team dropped a game 3-0 to OUAZ (Ariz.) Thursday in the semifinal round of the Golden State Athletic Conference Tournament at Thorrington Field. The loss is the first for the Warriors (13-2-1) at home this season. OUAZ (13-5-1) will face Menlo in the tournament final on Friday.
 
Westmont gave up two goals in the first half, just five minutes apart, but statistically they out-attacked the Spirit, winning the shooting match 7-6 and took three corner kicks to OUAZ's one. For Warrior head coach Dave Wolf it was less about the goals not scored or the goals allowed than how his team reacted being down 2-0.
 
"I think we've been grounded throughout the success of the season, but not today," explained Wolf. "In the first half, we didn't look like a team with chemistry, a team that loved each other.
 
"There's no pointing fingers though, because if I'm going to point a finger I'm going to start with myself, at my leadership and my preparation of the group. We didn't get it done today and hopefully we learn from it."
 
Over the course of the first fifteen games, Westmont had never trailed 2-0 at the half. In only one other game had they been behind two scores, and that was in the second half of their only loss on the season prior, way back on September 19th at Cal Poly.
 
"I was relatively pleased with the second half (today) in context to us chasing the game, down 2-0," said Wolf. "Our response was more positive. We had a positive mentality and a more supportive culture."
 
In the final forty-five, the Warriors came out firing. Westmont outshot the Spirit 14-4 and again took the edge in corner kicks, 4-0. For all the action, it did not result in a Warrior score. Instead, OUAZ netted an unassisted goal in the 66th minute, by All-GSAC forward Christian Gennaro, bumping their lead up to 3-0.
 
"We didn't get it done today but I thought Zach Godeck was good, so was Jona Romero and Isaiah Bolton," said Wolf. "The other part of the story was that we had some guys who didn't have the kinds of performances today that we've become accustomed in the past three months, and that happens.
 
"The next time we step into a game it will be a knock-out game. We won't have what (assistant) Coach (Johnny) Whallon calls the 'mulligan' that we had today."
 
There is still a postseason horizon for the Warriors. Because the GSAC is the host conference for the NAIA National Championship Tournament and because the Warriors won the GSAC regular season championship, they earned a bye in the first round of the NAIA National Tournament, scheduled for November 22 and 23. Westmont will await those results to find out their next opponent.

The Warriors next game will take place the week of December 2 at the Great Park in Irvine.
 
"We have nearly three weeks to prepare and it's always tricky to manage the postseason schedule, but this going automatically to the round of 16 is just uncharted territory for us," noted Wolf. "Some of the good from a tough day like today is that I'm expecting we're all going to be more alert and attentive as we prepare for that challenge. We want to keep our season alive."
 
OUAZ will play Menlo for the 2019 GSAC Men's Soccer Tournament Championship on Friday at 1:30 p.m. on Thorrington Field at Westmont.