La Verne forward Eduardo Rodriguez (No. 6) struggles with midfielder Ryan Brennan (No. 10) of Whittier during the first half of the soccer match Wednesday at Ben Hines Field. The Leopards ended the first half of play with a score of 4-0 over the Poets. / photo by Adam Omernik
by Max Zänker
Staff Writer
The University of La Verne men’s soccer team opened the conference season with a 2-0 record, outscoring its opponents 12-1 and disproving their 0-5 preseason record.
The Leopards beat the California Institute of Technology, 4-0 Saturday and Whittier College, 8-1 Wednesday in their first two conference games at Ben Hines Field.
A key component in the victory was forward Edgar Manzo, who started the game with the first goal for the 1-0 lead in the fourth minute of the game.
Keeping up the pressure on an unstable Whittier defense, he added two more goals for the hat trick later.
The Leopards’ game-winning factor in the match was their strong midfield. Right wing Daniel Aguirre and Eduardo Rodriguez put pressure on the Poets’ defense by dribbling, passing and attacking the goal.
Rodriguez put the Leopards’ second goal on the board with a powerful 19-yard shot in the 12th minute of the game.
“We finally found each other and are becoming familiar,” Rodriguez said. “Our strengths on the field are the speed and the quick one-touch offense we put in the game.”
In the contest with Caltech Saturday, the Leopards shut out their opponents and claimed the win.
Head coach Cres Gonzalez motivated his team before the conference opener.
“This is the beginning. Let’s go and make our first win for the future,” he said
The players took their coach’s speech seriously and converted it on the field.
In the first minute of the game, ULV striker Steven Lane had his big chance to score.
After a long kickoff by goalkeeper Luis Mendoza, the freshman faced Caltech’s last man Isaac Greemer one-on-one and was only stopped by a great save.
Nine minutes later, Lane left Greemer unsuccessful on a pass from Aguirre and put the first goal on the scoreboard for the 1-0 lead.
The Leopards kept the pressure up, gaining chance after chance to score.
In the 17th minute of the game, Eric Gomez headed in a corner kick by Chet Jusakul, bringing the score to 2-0.
A strong midfield led La Verne through the game. Chet Jusakul and Rodriguez gave some nightmares to Caltech’s defense, fooling them with technical, admirable dribbling and fast one-touch plays.
By halftime, the game could already have been decided as Lane and Rodriguez attempts were cleared on the line, or missed the goal by inches.
To improve his team’s “killer-instinct,” Gonzalez sent in forward Edgar Manzo in the 59th minute. Manzo must have understood his coach, too. With his first ball contact, he marked the 3-0 on a pass from Aguirre.
The Leopards were not finished yet.
Hungry for more, ULV kept dominating the game.
The Leopards scored the last goal in the 82nd minute when Adrian Prado chipped a free-kick from 18 yards over Greemer into the net to make the score 4-0.
“It was a pretty good game; we had to win,” Lane said. “But we have to work on our killer instinct.”
“This was the toughest preparation in seven years. The idea was to play some tough teams to raise the standards,” Gonzales said about the fact that his team came into the contest with an 0-5 record from the preseason and delivered an almost perfect conference opener.
The Leopards play Pomona-Pitzer at 11 a.m. Saturday in Claremont.
“They are one of the conference’s top team,” assistant coach Max Gebhardt said about Pomona-Pitzer. “But we constantly improve our defense and are right where we want to be in offense. We will have a chance if we keep up the good work.”