California Baptist University
Notre Dame de Namur
FLYING COLORS
9/21/2011 2:32:00 AM | Men's Soccer
RIVERSIDE, Calif. --- Putting together one of its best performances of the season, California Baptist University passed its toughest test to date, defeating Notre Dame de Namur, 2-1, Tuesday in a Pacific West Conference game.
The win is the Lancers' fourth in a row as they improve to 4-2 overall, 2-0 PacWest. The Argonauts, who just a few hours before kickoff fell out of the national rankings, fall to 3-3, 0-2 with their second straight loss.
The Lancers scored just 2:15 in before the Argonauts equalized in the 30th. The game remained deadlocked for the next 32 minutes until reigning PacWest Player of the Week Michael Salazar scored his fourth goal in the past three games. CBU then burned off the final 29 minutes for the win.
"For the first 30 minutes we were fantastic. We had really good movement and they had a hard time coping with it," said CBU Head Coach Ryan Jorden. "Once we conceded, momentum switched. We made some adjustments at halftime and were able to get back into a rhythm that we had lost. We started creating more chances and got the one we needed. After that, we got the defensive performance necessary to win."
Cole Schmit gave the Lancers a quick lead when he pounced on a cross from Jonathan Fausto. Marc Hope started the sequence with a shot that was blocked by an Argonaut defender out to the right side to Fausto, who then hit a short cross back into the area that Schmit put away.
In the 30th minute, however, the Argonauts struck back. Oscar Yniguez found some space and ripped a shot from about 30 yards out that knuckled its way over Joey Pacheco and into the net.
The Lancers outshot the Argonauts, 8-6, in the first half, but it was Argonauts, who had the upper hand in the second half with a 9-6 advantage and finished with a slim 15-14 advantage. Pacheco made two saves. Isiah Castro had four saves for NDNU.
With the game deadlocked midway through the second half, the Lancers began to find their way again, and it was Salazar, who scored twice in Saturday's 3-0 win over Academy of Art, that provided the difference.
The Argonaut defense gave the ball away, and Marc Hope got onto it streaking down the left side. As he made his way into the box, Hope played a ball across, and Salazar tucked it just inside the right post for what turned out to be the game winner.
The Lancer defense then went to work over the final half hour, keeping the Argonauts from generating very few chances.
"The defensive effort was great today," said Jorden. "We kept them in front of us and made it hard for their good players to get into space. We did a lot of things today that allowed us to beat a very good and dangerous team. We took some really big steps today."
