The California Lutheran University Men’s Soccer team got its first Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference win of the season in a 3-1 victory against the Chapman University Panthers. The Kingsmen’s first two SCIAC games of the season ended in a 1-1 tie.
The Panthers started the game on the front foot, as senior defender Ryan Bridge scored in the fourth minute of the game to give the visitors the lead. However, Cal Lutheran responded as sophomore forward Max Scott scored in the 23rd minute to level the game at 1-1.
In the second half, the Kingsmen kept Chapman at bay and added two more goals by way of junior defender Preston Fleming and senior midfielder Kai Nemoto to secure the win.
“It felt really good to be able to come back and win as a team,” Scott said. “At first going in, it was kinda unfortunate for us, but we all kinda looked around and knew we could win and that was the feeling going in at half-time.”
In an email interview, Head Men’s Soccer Coach Miguel Ruiz said the team remained focused on their game plan throughout the entire game.
“We stuck to the game plan we had, just made a bad mistake early on,” Ruiz said.
According to CLUSports.com, both teams had 10 shots. Chapman made five saves, while senior goalkeeper Davis Sharts made four. Last season, Sharts was instrumental in the Kingsmen’s victory over the University of Redlands in the SCIAC Tournament quarterfinals, making three saves in the penalty shootout.
“I really enjoyed watching how hard my team played and it was really nice to see how well we worked together, how well we played together, and how we could respond to adversity,” Scott said. “It was really nice that we were able to come back and win, and just to get our first conference win.”
There was a total of 28 fouls and four yellow cards in the game.
With the win against the Panthers, the Kingsmen have reached a total of three wins this season. Their other games resulted in one loss against Texas Lutheran University, and three ties with La Verne, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, and Pacific University.
According to Scott, the team will have to work on “starting out faster”, so as to keep the game competitive and not “go down” as quickly. Ruiz shared a similar sentiment about not “giving up early goals” in games.
Ruiz said the victory was a team effort and every player worked hard to secure the Kingsmen their third victory this season.
Next up for Cal Lutheran is Occidental College. The Kingsmen will take on the Tigers in their fourth SCIAC game on Wednesday, Sept. 27 away from home.
“We have to prepare for Oxy. They are a good team and we are at their place. We have to put in a good performance,” Ruiz said.
