Two goals within an eight minute stretch and a solid defensive performance were all that Westmont men’s soccer needed to upset the top-ranked Azusa Pacific Cougars (16-1-1) in the first round of the NAIA Region II Tournament on Thursday. The Warriors’ 2-1 victory allows Westmont (9-7) to advance to the semifinals on Saturday at #5 Fresno Pacific. Westmont brings a four-game winning streak into the one o’clock contest - a streak in which the Warriors have outscored their opponents 12-1.

The loss was the first this season for the Cougars who have only allowed nine goals all year. Westmont has scored four of those goals, having lost to Azusa Pacific 2-3 in overtime on October 3. Only two teams have scored more than one goal against Azusa Pacific in a single game – Westmont has done so twice.

“Johnny scored on a long free kick after it took a wicked deflection off an Azusa defender,” said head coach Dave Wolf of the Warriors’ first goal which came in the seventeenth minute. “Unfortunately, he damaged his hamstring and had to come out a few minutes later.”

Anthony Strunz replaced Alcaraz in the twenty-fourth minute and paid immediate dividends for Westmont.

“Strunz got loose on a ball and served it to the middle of the field where Jon Schoff deflected the pass to Tony (Niboli),” reported Wolf.

The resulting 2-0 lead was cut to 2-1 just six minutes later when the Cougars’ Eric Winblad headed in a corner kick from Danny Sundberg.

“After we scored the first goal, Azusa was all over us,” said Wolf. “From the twentieth minute to the seventieth minute, the guys were under a tremendous amount of pressure. Dillon (Barna) and Saul (Moreno) were fantastic in the center defense. They, along with Justin Etherton, were our Most Important Players for the game. As the second half wore on, we were able to reorganize ourselves and gain more balance in the last twenty minutes.”

The Warriors limited Azusa Pacific to 10 shots on goal, five of which were on goal. The Cougars average 17.55 per game. Etherton had four saves in the contest. Westmont had six shots in the game, all coming in the first half and all but one of which were on target.

A win on Saturday by the Warriors would advance Westmont to the NAIA Region II Championship game on Wednesday against the winner of the region’s other semifinal game between Concordia and Holy Names.

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