By Jeff Trousdale
The UP men's soccer team had one of their biggest weekends of the season, as they defeated Loyola Marymount 1-0 and San Diego 3-2 in one last push to make the NCAA playoffs.
The Pilots (8-9-2, 5-6-0 WCC) need to win their final game this weekend if they want any chance at making playoffs, but they were able to keep their hopes alive with two strong performances over the weekend, their final two home games of the season.
The Pilot men started the weekend with Friday's game against LMU. It was a game that featured a strong defensive effort by junior goalkeeper Austin Guerrero, who had 19 shots sent his way, nine of which were on goal.
"It looks a bit lopsided with 19 shots, but most were far enough away that I could get a handle on them," Guerrero said. "I thought the defense was the best they've been all year."
Fortunately for the Pilots, the offense got in the action as well in the 17th minute, when junior Collen Warner bounced a shot off the left post of the goal and sophomore Frankie Lopez managed to one-touch the ball into the back of the net off the ricochet. The goal was Lopez's 11th of the season tying him for the WCC lead, while the assist was Warner's seventh of the season, giving him the lead in that WCC category as well.
LMU came back with a scoring chance of their own in the 30th minute, when Rafael Baca broke away from the Pilot's defense and fired a shot at the top of the box, only to be stopped by the outstretched arms of a diving Guerrero.
"I was never too worried about the shots," Guerrero said. "That's the reason I train, I never back down."
The Pilots ended the first half holding onto their lead, but quickly came under pressure as they came out sloppy to open the second half. Head Coach Bill Irwin described it as a trend that has plagued them all season.
"I thought we had a few dodgy moments to open the second half," Irwin said. "I told them at halftime not to let up, but that's what happened."
UP picked up the pressure as the half went on, and in one sequence had three shots on goal, including one by Warner that again bounced off the goalpost. The Pilots continued to pile on the shots, but were unable to capitalize on an insurance goal.
"We had a number of chances, we just need to be more clinical on our shots," Irwin said.
The game was a physical battle for both teams, and a fight nearly broke out at the end after a couple of cheap shots were made against Warner, something that he wasn't entirely surprised by.
"If you knew their coach you'd understand," Warner said. "That's just the way they try to stop players."
Sunday's game, which was senior day, was also a physical encounter, albeit one that featured some more scoring as well.
San Diego opened the scoring just six minutes into the game, when Corey Norris received the ball at the top of the box off a corner kick and chipped it into JD Penilton, who scored on a header.
Two minutes later, Pilots' senior Brayton Knapp passed the ball to a wide-open Warner, who rocketed the equalizing goal into the lower right corner of the net.
It appeared as though the game would be tied going into the second half, but with two seconds left, Warner found senior Steven Hosseinmardi, who nailed a shot off the left post that managed to bounce in. It was Hosseinmardi's first goal of the season.
"It was huge," Hosseinmardi said. "That's probably the last time I'll ever play here, and it helped our team get the victory."
The intense play continued in the second half, when San Diego defenseman Tim Grey picked up his second yellow card in the 54th minute, earning himself an ejection and giving the Pilots what should have been a major advantage for the remainder of the game.
"I'm a little disappointed with how we played when they went a man down," Irwin said. "We got a bit lackadaisical in our execution."
Lopez finally managed to take advantage of the Pilots' favorable numbers in the 63rd minute, when he blasted an unassisted shot from 30 yards out, sending it to the upper right corner past the arms of the keeper.
San Diego was able to retaliate with their own goal three minutes later, when forward Andrew Field sent his own unassisted shot past Guerrero to the lower right corner.
The Pilots managed to hold on from there, in a game that featured 20 total shots by the Torreros and 15 by the Pilots. Irwin said his team now has hope for the playoffs.
If we get another win then we're in the hands of the gods," Irwin said.
The Pilot's final game is at Saint Mary's on Friday at 2 p.m., a team they beat 3-0 when they played last month in Portland.
