By Ron Smith
November 2, 2025
 
(SANTA BARBARA) Point Loma Nazarene (11-3-1, 7-1 PacWest), the 14th ranked team in Division II, posted a 2-1 win over Westmont Men's Soccer (5-9-2, 1-7-1) on Saturday at Thorrington Field.
 
"I think our guys feel like we represented ourselves in a much better way than we have the majority of the season," reflected Westmont's head coach Morgan Cathey. "Point Loma is the top team in the conference and they had some really good chances, but so did we. Point Loma is a very good team that asks you to defend for large parts of the game. I thought our guys dealt with that well. Their possession wasn't really dangerous except for a handful of times.
 
"I thought we performed really well in possession. As we grew into the game, we played very well out of possession. We won a lot of duals and we showed the desire, passion and energy that all of us have been wanting. That wasn't just coaches wanting it, everybody wants it and knows it is in there. Today, we brought it out and I am very proud of our guys for sure."
 
A scoreless first half saw Point Loma place two shots on goal to Westmont's one. In the 54th minute, the Sea Hawk's Inaki Santamarina produced the first goal when he converted a penalty kick. The PK was awarded when Niko Kaczmarczyk was tripped up in the top of the box as he was receiving a pass.
 
Just 5-0 minutes later, the Sea Lions made it a 2-0 game on a goal by Christopher Burgos Lara. Oz Rocca won a ball on the right side and then passed across the box to Burgos Lara who was one-on-one with the keeper. Burgos used his right foot to send the ball inside the left upright.
 
Westmont drew within a goal in the 79th minute. Yordan Marinov crossed a ball from the left side of the penalty box inside the six-yard box, even with the far post. Weston Ash headed the pass into the left-hand crease, recording his sixth goal of the season.
 
In the final 10 minutes, the Warriors stepped up the offense and tallied five shots.
 
"We definitely saw, as the second half went on, that we were finding a lot of space in second balls," noted Cathey. "I thought we did really well to expose them. In set plays, I thought we had a lot of commitment in those last few moments, whether it was the set piece where we missed the goal, or the last action where we had players in and around the box that can win the first ball and win the second ball."
 
Ash nearly scored again. From inside the penalty arc, Erik Guerrero sent a ball forward that got past the defenders. With the Sea Lions' keeper coming forward, Ash used his right foot to touch it over the keeper. Unfortunately, the ball sailed three inches over the crossbar with just two seconds remaining on the game clock.
 
"It was an unbelievable effort from Ash and was a great touch," assessed Cathey. "It was just a foot too high. Wes has done really well to put himself in those positions and help our team be successful.
 
"I am really happy that we were able to reach that level today. I told our guys at the end that the emotions are mixed because it is also disappointing that we didn't perform this way every game, because we know the potential. I said to them that this must be the first chapter in our new book. We can't go back to what was. This has to be how we engage each other and ourselves."
 
The Warriors will finish up the season on Saturday when they host the Penguins of Dominican at 1:30 p.m. Prior to the contest, the Warriors will celebrate Senior Day.