Westmont College Athletics

By Ron Smith
October 31, 2026
 
(SANTA BARBARA, Calif.) On Senior Day at Thorrington Field, Westmont Men's Soccer (8-7-5, 5-2-2 PacWest), clinched a berth in the upcoming PacWest Tournament by defeating the Sea Lions of Point Loma (8-6-3, 5-4) 4-1. The result moved Westmont into third place in the PacWest standings.
 
The third-seeded Warriors will take on the second-seeded Lions of Vanguard (7-7-2, 6-2-1) on Thursday, November 5 in the tournament's second semifinal game. The games will be held at Kennelly Field on the campus of Dominican University. Kick-off is scheduled for 2:00 p.m.

Before the Warriors and Lions kick off, the hosts Penguins (6-6-4, 5-3-1), who are the fourth-seed, will take on the top-seeded Sharks of Hawai'i Pacific (8-5-3, 6-2-1) in the first semifinal game at 11:00 a.m. Winners will meet on Saturday, November 7, at noon in the championship game.
 
Prior to Saturday's game at Thorrington Field, Westmont honored four seniors for their contributions to the program: Ulises Velez-Lazaro, Cole Lomeli, Leonel Olivo Ortiz and Jackson Obleda.
 
As Westmont head coach Morgan Cathey pointed out, the Warriors have never lost on Senior Day in his four years at the helm. In fact, they have now won 12-straight games on Senior Day.
 
"Our senior day starts with the players themselves roasting the seniors and having just a heartfelt time together," reported Cathey. "Then, the coaching staff got to honor the seniors before the game, focused on what it means to be a part of our program. We honored the first four-year guys that I've had in the program.
 
"It is such a powerful experience that we got to have today and because of that, the passion that our players exuded from the start of the game until the end of the game was incredible. That passion was genuine and comes from a deep care for each other and for the program.
 
"It's a huge honor for our guys to continue on the excellence that (former head coach) Dave Wolf, and many coaches before, have instilled, and to see how much our guys care and want to do well for the program."
 
Both Westmont and Point Loma entered Saturday's game knowing that the winner would advance to tournament play and the loser's season would come to an end.
 
The Warriors took an early lead on a penalty kick goal by Cole Lomeli. The PK was earned by Leonel Olivo Ortiz in the ninth minute. From near the touchline, a Sea Lion defender attempted to pass a ball back to the goalkeeper. However, Olivo Ortiz beat the keeper to the ball just inside the left edge of the 18-yard box. The keeper slid into Olivo Ortiz and upended the senior forward, resulting in the awarding of the penalty kick by the center referee.
 
The Warriors added to their advantage in the 44th minute on a goal by sophomore forward Micah Maljian. Westmont goalkeeper Aidan Strickler caught a long-range free kick, then booted the ball more than half the distance inside Point Loma's side of the pitch. A Sea Lion defender headed the ball, but it continued to bound toward the top of the 18-yard box. With Point Loma's goalkeeper running toward the ball, Maljian caught up with it just inside the box and one-touched it with his left leg, sending it past the keeper and into the right-hand crease.
 
In the 78th minute, the Warriors took a 3-0 lead off of a set piece after Tiago Aranibar sent a corner kick in front of the goal. With Logan Race and the keeper contesting for the service, Race headed the ball toward the goal. The ball hit the crossbar and rebounded down. Before it could hit the ground, a defender tried to kick it out of danger, but instead kicked it into the top netting.
 
Three minutes later, Point Loma was awarded a penalty kick when Kaleb Abara was tripped up in the 18-yard box. Jack Merrill took the PK and sent the ball to the left side while Strickler guessed to the right.
 
Then in the 82nd minute, Westmont scored again, this time on a counter attack. Stricker made a spectacular save on a right-footed shot by Point Loma's Cole Friesen. Strickler leapt and batted the ball to his left. Race tracked down the ball near the endline and quickly booted it out to near the midfield stripe along the left touchline.
 
Maljian tracked down the ball, sprinting toward the goal and beating two defenders. One-on-one with the keeper, Maljian sent the ball to his right where Donovon Espino was racing down the field. However, the pass went just ahead of Espino's reach and continued to the right.
 
Freshman Julius Oehmichen was trailing Espino on a parallel path, but further to his right. He ran on the ball and from 12 yards out, skipped a shot past a defender and into the left-hand corner.
 
"I think the whole team was incredible," noted Cathey. "It's one of the best performances we've had as a team. I was really proud of the guys and it is really fun to see these guys achieve. They went from a team that had a difficult last year, to a team that deserves to be in the playoffs and deserves to be considered one of the best in the conference."
 
When Westmont takes the field on Thursday against Vanguard, it will be against an opponent that they haven't seen since the start of conference play. On September 23, Vanguard downed the Warriors 4-3 in Costa Mesa.
 
Westmont tied Dominican 2-2 in Santa Barbara in the second game of PacWest play on September 26. More recently, the Warriors posted a 2-0 win against Hawai'i Pacific in Honolulu on October 10.
 
Links for the live stream and live stats for Thursday's game are available on the Westmont Athletics website.