Abra-Apodaca

Saturday, September 3

Riverside, Calif.

2:30PM

California Baptist University

1-0-0

Saint Martin's

0-2-0

Team	1	2	Final F
Saint Martin's	2	0	2
California Baptist	1	2	3

Photo by: Jacob Gonzalez

9/3/2016 6:31:00 PM | Men's Soccer

Box Score

By: Sammi Wellman, Director of Sports Information

RIVERSIDE, Calif. — In the season opener Saturday afternoon, California Baptist University put on a magical performance to come from behind and beat Saint Martin's 3-2.

"At the end of the day, we got the result we wanted," said head coach Coe Michaelson. "We encountered some adversity and we've talked about that with the guys; it's something we're going to deal with throughout the season. We made mistakes and had to fix those. It was great to see us respond to that adversity and come back to get the result we needed."

Aidan Apodaca scored all three goals for the Lancers for the hat trick, starting the Lancers off with a 1-0-0 record. The Saints drop to 0-2-0 with the loss.

"During the game, I just wanted to take every chance I had and focus on putting it in the back of the net," said Apodaca. "I couldn't have done it without my teammates, though."

The Lancers came out hot and pressured SMU early, but the Saints gave CBU a scare in the 22^nd minute as James Bogdanovich had to head a shot off the line to keep it 0-0.

Apodaca scored his first goal of the game and the season from the top of the 18-yard box in the 26^th minute off an assist from Daniel Westholm.

Unfortunately, the 1-0 lead didn't last long as the Saints evened the score in the 33^rd minute and then scored the go-ahead goal just before halftime.

With 45 minutes left to play, the Lancers didn't waste time feeling down and came out in the second half determined to score some goals.

"We came out second half hungry and wanted to put the ball in the back of the net," said Apodaca.

The equalizer came in the 65^th minute, once again from the tag team of Westholm and Apodaca. Westholm played Apodaca in through the Saint defense, putting him in on a breakaway with the goalkeeper. Apodaca kept his composure and finished far post to tie the game, 2-2.

CBU kept the intensity up, not willing to go into overtime in its first game of the season.

Hugo Gutierrez beat his defender to get a cross off in the 84^th minute, finding Apodaca open at the far post. The junior striker drilled his shot in off the first touch to give the Lancers a 3-2 lead with not much time remaining.

Despite SMU's challenges, CBU held on to seal the win and start the season off on a good foot. The Lancers will look to carry momentum over into Thursday's matchup against Sonoma State. The two teams kick off at 4:30 p.m. at the Lancer Soccer Field.

"We had a ton of possession and a ton of chances to go with that," said Michaelson. "We missed a few easy ones and their goalkeeper made some good saves. What we struggled to deal with was the direct play on the counter attack [that was a result of one of their goals], which is something we'll need to work on."

"I think one of the things we can look to take from this game is the belief at halftime to fight back and show willpower to get the win," added Michaelson.