California Baptist University
Azusa Pacific
STONE COLE BOUNCEBACK
10/17/2010 2:49:00 AM | Men's Soccer
RIVERSIDE, Calif. --- Lesson learned.
Having suffered a bad loss Wednesday to Point Loma Nazarene, the NAIA's No. 5-ranked California Baptist University rebounded with a brilliant performance Saturday. The Lancers got a first half goal from freshman Cole Schmit and left the rest up to their stalwart defense in a 1-0 win over No. 15 Azusa Pacific.
"I said after Wednesday's game that I didn't expect us to respond today, but rather that the guys would respond Thursday in training," said CBU Head Coach Ryan Jorden. "The guys owned it, and we learned something Thursday. We need to be intelligent every game out no matter who we are playing, and we got an intelligent performance today."
With first place in the GSAC on the line, the Lancers dug deep with a gritty performance. They improve to 12-2 overall, 6-1 (18 points) GSAC, taking sole possession of the top of the table. The Cougars fall to 12-3, 5-2 (15 points).
The win is the Lancers' first over Azusa Pacific since 1999, snapping the Cougars' 10-game unbeaten streak against CBU. It also ties a program record for wins in a season and is their program-record tying eighth shutout of the year.
Dan Kelly, who was making his first start since Aug. 26, made three saves to keep the GSAC's top-scoring team off the scoreboard.
The Lancers were out-shot, 13-10, including a 9-5 margin in the first half. It didn't matter though, as all it took was for one to hit the back of the net.
That came in the 40th minute off the foot of a freshman who has played just 23 combined minutes in the previous three games. Brian Ahn and Osvaldo Bastida found themselves 2-on-1 on the right side of the Cougar defense. Ahn played a ball towards the end line to Bastida, who ran onto it and a perfect ball into the area. Schmit ran onto it and put away the game's only goal.
"I had the easiest part of the entire build-up," said Schmit, whose other goal came against No. 23 The Master's. "All I had to do was touch it in the net, because Ozzie played a great ball. He put it on a silver platter. I know my role on this team. I'm behind veteran guys, and I know that if I work hard in training, it makes them better, and I get better, too."
The assist was Bastida's eighth of the year, the most in the GSAC.
The Lancers burned off the final 50 minutes, giving up just four shots the rest of the way.
"It's about getting results and we did what we had to do," said Jorden. "The courage and work rate was tremendous. We made a concerted effort in recruiting kids with character, and there's a lot of it on this team. We played in a lot of 1-0 games last year, and those games are tough and competitive and served us well."
At 6-1, the Lancers now have sole possession of first place in the GSAC with just three games remaining against three of the bottom four teams in the conference. They travel to Hope International Tuesday and then have a week off before traveling to San Diego Christian Oct. 27. The regular season concludes Oct. 30 at Concordia.
"We're
not focused on rankings," added Schmit. "We put Wednesday behind us, and it's
games like these where we have to work to prove ourselves, and we worked pretty
hard today."
