California Baptist University
Seattle Pacific University
Cole's Goals
11/7/2013 1:59:00 AM | Men's Soccer
RIVERSIDE, Calif. --- Within a span of two minutes, Cole Schmit scored two goals to help propel his California Baptist University Lancers to a 3-0 victory over Seattle Pacific Wednesday.
The non-conference win improves the Lancers to 9-5-1 on the season, while the Falcons fall to 11-3-3 overall. SPU currently ranks sixth in the NCAA Division II West Region rankings.
"You always want to be playing your best soccer at the end of the year," said head coach Gregg Schroeder. "I felt like this was one of our best performances. Especially in the first half, I thought we played incredible. We did the things we had to do to put a couple away early."
SPU managed to get the first shot of the game off in the second minute of action, forcing Joey Pacheco to make one of his five saves, but it was the Lancers who capitalized first.
In the 23rd minute, as CBU moved the ball around the field to maintain possession, Ike Akubuilo found Schmit at the corner of the 18-yard box. Schmit rocketed off a shot, sending it past the Falcons' goalkeeper into the back of the net.
"Cole's first goal was just beautiful," said Schroeder. "We had a good little change of the point of attack to get Cole in and he had an unbelievable clinical finish."
Two minutes later, before the Falcons knew what hit them, Schmit struck again.
Seattle Pacific couldn't get a good clear on the ball in the 25th minute, keeping it within dangerous territory and several Lancer players. As the ball bounced around in the box, James Bogdanovich sent a shot on goal, but Cody Lang made the save. Lang couldn't hold onto it, however, surrendering a rebound which Schmit poked into the net for the 2-0 lead.
"The second goal was kind of something Cole's known for: scrappy goals," said Schroeder. "He'll find a way to get a goal. Today he was great and got two goals."
Holding the two-goal advantage, CBU knew SPU would put the pressure on in the second half as intensity built. Three minutes into the second half, the Lancer defense thwarted a Falcon attempt, but gave itself a little scare.
"The second half was a little back-and-forth since they put a bit of pressure on us," said Schroeder. "I challenged the guys at halftime to not settle for 2-0 because SPU is a very good team. They needed to continue to go on and impose their will on the game and I thought they did as much as they could."
Still hungry for another goal, Jonathan Fausto sealed the victory in the 82nd minute. Alex Anderson slotted a through pass in between two Falcon defenders, putting Fausto in behind the defense with just the goalkeeper to beat. Without taking an extra touch, Fausto knocked the ball past Lang to give CBU a three-goal cushion.
"It was a good thing for our guys to not just hold onto the 2-0 lead," said Schroeder. "They kept pushing when it's so easy to sit back and observe. That third goal was just fantastic and well-worked. There were good runs through, a great through ball and a good one-time finish."
The Falcons pressed to break through the Lancer defense and tried to create something offensively as the clock wound down. With eight minutes left, SPU sent a corner kick into the box, but Pacheco punched it out of danger to keep his net unscathed.
Anderson had a chance to add a fourth goal with seconds left on the clock, but sent his shot off the corner kick just over the crossbar, ending the game at 3-0 in favor of the Lancers.
"I'm hoping the guys take confidence from putting one of the top teams in the West Region away," said Schroeder. "The fashion in which we did, I think the guys can come into Saturday with confidence. It's Senior Day, too, and the guys are really going to be looking to put a great effort in for the guys who have been here for four years."
CBU plays its final regular season contest on Saturday, hosting PacWest foe Dixie State at 2:30 p.m. The Lancers will honor six seniors prior to the match: Anderson, John Barrow, Fausto, Marc Hope, Pacheco and Schmit.
