Westmont men’s soccer hosted NAIA Division II Notre Dame de Namur (5-2-1) yesterday at Russ Carr Field and found themselves on the wrong end of a 1-0 shutout.

The only goal came 14 minutes into the game when the Argonauts’ Anthony Putrus headed in a corner kick from Anthony Marinic. “The thing we struggled with the most was communication,” acknowledged head coach Dave Wolf. “On the corner we conceded that led to the goal, we cleared the ball out of bounds when we didn’t really have to do so. We had time to collect it and do something different with it. But the communications wasn’t there to let the defender know he had time.”

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The Warriors posted the fourth shutout of the season on Wednesday, defeating the host Stags of Claremont-Mudd-Scripps 1-0. The game was the third shutout of the season for junior keeper Logan Frank in as many starts.

‘It was the third road trip in a week – all pretty tough trips – and I was proud of the way the guys battled,” said head coach Dave Wolf. “The last 15 minutes were tough, they were agonizing to watch. At the end of the game we lost our legs. I was glad the big man [Frank] was in goal. In the last few minutes they played everything directed into the box. We just had to go up and hit, fight, clear and scrap. It wasn’t a lot of fun to watch, but we got out of there without giving up a goal.”

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Westmont men’s soccer improved their record to 2-1-2 on Saturday by defeating the Redlands Bulldogs (1-2) by a score of 2-0. Junior goalkeeper Josh DeForest recorded the shutout.

“Josh played very well in the goal today,” reported head coach Dave Wolf. “A lot of [Redlands] shots were from long range. Our backs did a great job denying them quality opportunities. But Josh made some important saves when we needed him to, including a very impressive kick save to prevent a goal from close range.”

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In a game played at Azusa Pacific University, Westmont Men’s Soccer (1-1-2) and the Warner Pacific Knights (Wash.) played to a 3-3 tie.

“Defensively, we really had a tough time,” acknowledged head coach Dave Wolf. “We gave away some bad goals. It was a game we should have won so we are definitely disappointed with the result.”

Ten minutes into the game, Warner Pacific’s J. B. Cunha headed the ball into the Warrior net off a cross from Jack Gunion to put the Knights (2-2-1) on top by one.

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Johnny Alcaraz scored two unassisted goals as the Warriors claimed a 3-0 win over the Coyotes of Cal State San Bernardino (0-1-1) on Saturday. The win came in the final game of the 2005 Heritage Club Classic at Russ Carr Field.

“I think yesterday’s tie woke us up,” said Alcaraz, referring to a scoreless game against Graceland (Iowa). “If we are going to be as good as we want to be, we have to show it – it’s not going to be given to us. We just have to come out and do the work. We have a chance to be really good, but we have to show it. We were mad about yesterday’s score and we came out to change our whole perspective on the game - to make sure we had control of the ball and press the [opposing] team.

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Junior goalkeeper Logan Frank recorded seven saves to post a shutout, but the Warriors were also held scoreless on opening day of the Heritage Club Classic at Westmont’s Russ Carr Field.

“I thought our back line played a solid match out there today,” said Frank. “[Matt] Moser is the leader back there every game. He’s solid and gets his tackles in. T.J. [McKillop] played well – got up the line and hustled all over the field today. [Ryan] Wisdom stepped up when Joe Cover went down. And Sergio was solid when he came in.”

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Westmont Men’s Soccer traveled across town Saturday night to take on the #4 Santa Barbara Gauchos in the Warrior’s season opener. It was quite a challenging start to the year considering the last time UCSB took the field they were playing Indiana in the NCAA Division I Championship Game. Though losing to the Gauchos 4-3, Westmont had plenty to feel good about.

“I told the guys that in the fifteen years I’ve coached in this game, we have never looked so evenly matched against the Gauchos,” reported Westmont head coach Dave Wolf. I think if you showed up at the stadium without knowing anything about the two teams on the field, you would have thought that this was a pretty close match-up.”

Head Coach Dave Wolf has announced the addition of five new recruits to the Westmont men’s soccer program.

Two transfers are expected to have an immediate impact on the Warrior program. Joe Villanueva, a junior transfer from the University of Virginia, is a left-side player who, “is very strong and very athletic,” according to Wolf. “We expect him to play either left-back or left-midfield.” The 6′ 0″, 170 pound defender hails from San Marino, California and played for Pasadena Poly.