THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. - It was déjà vu in reverse for the Cal Lutheran men's soccer team tonight. On homecoming night, before a great crowd at Rolland Stadium, the Kingsmen fell 2-1 to Whittier in a mirror image of the first meeting between the teams this year.
The Whittier starting goalie received a red card in the fifth minute and WC was forced to play a man down the entire contest.
Cal Lutheran took advantage of that, nearly tripling the Poets offensive output with 28 shots to Whittier's 10, but it was the visiting Purple and Gold who had the upper hand.
In the 21st and 81st minutes Brian Russell served up a free kick to Srdan Jovanovic who headed the ball into the net for nearly identical scoring plays for the Poets.
CLU equalized the score to 1-1 just before halftime when Raul Yepez dribbled through a pair of Whittier defenders and shot from 10 yards out for the goal in his final homecoming game.
Each team earned six corner kicks with all of Whittier's in the first half while CLU had four in the first 45 minutes and two in the final half of action.
Yepez took more shots, 11, than the entire WC team. He had five on goal and a number of others that went just high. Both Ivan Sanchez and Enrique Zaragoza had three shots in the game.
As a team, CLU took four consecutive shots that were just high, clearing the cross bar by inches, in a three minute period beginning in the 54th minute.
Seven Kingsmen played the entire contest. Earning the start was Jack Duncan. Joining the goalie on the field for all 90 minutes were Sanchez, Yepez, Zaragoza, Kyle Fleming, Thiago Gaglianone and Alex Wardle.
Cal Lutheran (7-10, 5-8 SCIAC) will be back at Rolland Stadium on Monday, Oct. 22 when they host Occidental at 7:00 p.m.
Box Score: WC 2, CLU 1
