Men's Soccer
9/29/2007 - Royals Score Late- Topple #9 Westmont
Fullerton, CA- On a beautiful Southern California Saturday afternoon, the Royals pulled off the upset, defeating NAIA #9 and GSAC rival Westmont, 1-0. Sophomore Jose Andrade scored the only goal of the game in the 90th minute.
In a match that looked destined for overtime, Hope (8-3, 2-1 GSAC) had one last chance and made it count. After a Westmont (5-3, 1-2 GSAC) foul, the Royals had a free kick from about 45 yards out. Junior Carlos Mesa-Gomez put the kick directly into the middle of the box and off the half-volley Andrade found the back of the net.
Royals Head Coach Joe Lurker said of his forward, "Jose gets about a goal a match. He is consistent, makes things happen, and scores when it counts most." Andrade now has 8 goals on the season while playing in 10 matches.
The match was about as even as a match can be played. Coach Lurker added, "We played very even. In fact, we have 17 new players and Westmont has 17 new players. We knew on paper, we would match up well and the game could come down to one or two plays."
One or two plays indeed. The Warriors best chance came in the 83rd minute when Anthony Niboli managed a semi-break away against Royal Freshman Goalkeeper Jakob Brown. Niboli beat Brown with a shot on what looked like a sure goal but found the goal post instead. The Royals cleared it and the rest is history.
Though Brown was only credited with 2 saves, he denied many Westmont chances by picking balls out of the air on crosses and coming off his line very effectively. Not to be out done, Warriors goalkeeper Joe Benscoter, playing in his first match of the season, recorded 6 saves- none bigger than two 1-on-1 situations where he stood his ground.
The win proved to be a historic one as the Royals defeated the Warriors for the first time ever. The series record now stands at 11-1 in favor of Westmont.
The Royals' next match finds them on the road at GSAC rival Cal Baptist in Riverside at 3pm on Wednesday, October 3rd.