After falling behind 2-0 in the first twenty minutes of play, Westmont Men’s Soccer (1-1) put up five goals to claim a decisive 5-2 win over Bethel (0-1-1) of Tennessee at the Azusa Pacific Cougar Classic on Saturday. Midfielders Jonathon Schoff and Anthony Niboli each recorded two goals and senior forward Jake Joyner scored an unassisted goal from 25 yards out.

The Wildcats of Bethel scored both of their goals within a three minute period. Dwayne Smith scored in the seventeenth minute on a low shot to the far post from 12 feet away. Smith figured into another goal in the twentieth minute when he crossed the ball from the left side to Steven Short who was able to score on one touch.

“It was a little bit of an odd game in the sense that I thought we were in control of the whole game, but as we did on Friday, we gave up a couple of goals on the counter attack,” said head coach Dave Wolf. “It was a bit of shocker to us. We were down 2-0 but felt good about the way we were playing.”

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Westmont Women’s Soccer enjoyed a 3-1 win over Southern Oregon (0-3) on Saturday in Irvine to tally their first win of the 2008 season. The Warriors (1-1-1) controlled the tempo of the game and according to assistant coach Kristi Kiely, “had the run of play” throughout.

“The team showed a lot of patience today,” noted Kiely. “We controlled the pace and had possession about 80% of the game. It was a good victory.”

The Warriors got on the board first with a goal by sophomore forward Jameisha Washington.

“Jenna Nelson took control of the ball in the central left and passed it to Amy Lawson who was wide left. Amy beat her defender and passed across to the feet of J.J. who finished easily. Jenna and Amy established chemistry today which is what we have been hoping for.”

A day after posting wins over Carroll (Mont.) and Montana Tech, Westmont Volleyball (5-3) earned a 3-1 win over #24 Westminster (Utah) and suffered a 3-1 defeat to Great Falls (Mont.) at the Crowne Plaza Volleyball Festival conducted by Concordia University in Irvine.

In the first match against Westminster (0-6), junior right side hitter Stephanie Dunn and junior outside hitter Beth Widicus posted 11 kills each to lead the Warriors offensively. Dunn posted a .320 attack percentage. Junior middle blocker Katey Lowry added nine more kills while freshman Sami Miller and senior Katie Sharp added seven more. Miller notched a .545 attack percentage.

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Westmont Women’s Volleyball (4-2) claimed a pair of victories at the Crowne Plaza Volleyball Festival conducted by Concordia University in Irvine.

“Katey Lowry played her usual strong game at the net,” said Westmont head coach Jim Smoot. “And our setters did a great job of running the offense.”

In the first match of the day, Westmont picked up a 3-1 win over Carroll (4-1) of Montana. After losing the first set 25-23, Westmont rebounded to take the next three sets 25-20, 25-14, 25-21. The Warriors presented a balanced attack with Lowry (junior middle blocker), Stephanie Dunn (junior right side hitter), and Anna Nyhoff (sophomore outside hitter) each recording ten kills.

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The season opener for Westmont Men’s Soccer proved to be a thriller, but in an overtime finish, #8 Graceland (Iowa) defeated the Warriors 3-2. The 2006 NAIA national champions picked up the win off the foot of Edson Edward who scored just over five minutes into the overtime period in the opening game of the Cougar Classic at Azusa Pacific.

“It was a pretty good game against a pretty good team,” said head coach Dave Wolf. “But it was a disappointing finish after fighting back twice to time the game. It’s a shame not to have walked away without at least a tie.”

Graceland opened the scoring in the nineteenth minute when Diego Gonzalez headed in a pass from Jeffrey Darkwah. The Warriors did not even the game until the sixty-eight minute when senior forward Andrew Schneider scored off an assist by sophomore forward Harrison Hill. It marked the first goal for Schneider and first assist for Hill in Warrior uniforms.

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In a game dominated by defense, the twelfth ranked Clan of British Columbia’s Simon Fraser (2-0) defeated #13 Westmont women’s soccer by a score of 1-0. Westmont out shot Simon Fraser 7-6, but an unassisted goal by Sarah Boultan in the thirty-sixth minute provided the difference maker for the Clan.

A free kick by Simon Fraser was blocked by Westmont and traveled straight up into the air. When the ball came down, a scramble ensued in front of the Warriors’ net. Boultan got a foot on the ball and punched it into the goal.

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Westmont women’s soccer, ranked thirteenth in the NAIA preseason poll, opened the 2008 campaign with a 1-1 tie against #5 Concordia (Ore.) on Monday in Portland. After a scoreless first half, the Warriors found themselves down 1-0 after an own goal.

Jackie Pronovost of Concordia (1-0-1) launched a long pass into the middle of the box ten minutes into the second half where it connected with the head of her twin sister, Justine Pronovost. But a save on the header by Roxanne Love, Westmont’s sophomore keeper, prevented the goal. Unfortunately, the ball came lose and an attempt to clear the ball by the Warriors produced a score for the Cavaliers.

Three minutes later, Love suffered a fracture to her orbital lobe in a collision and left the game. Freshman Natalie Johnston was called upon to tend the net. The status of Love’s return to the Warrior lineup is unknown at the present time.

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Taking his team into Harder Stadium to face the NCAA’s ninth ranked team is an exciting challenge for Westmont Men’s Soccer head coach Dave Wolf. Wolf knows going in that the opportunity is special, and the challenge significant. Westmont came up short in the forty-sixth edition of the Bryant & Sons Cup, falling to the UC Santa Barbara Gaucho’s 4-0 in the exhibition match.

“I was disappointed for the most part because I felt like we were capable of producing a bit more quality than we did,” acknowledged Wolf. “It’s a real hard setting, they’re a great team and you know that your margin for error is very small. But I believe in the players that we have and in their ability to deal with those small margins of error. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to do that too often over the balance of 90 minutes.”

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