THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. - The Cal Lutheran Men's soccer team had plenty of good chances but never could find the back of the net Monday night as the Kingsmen opened SCIAC play against Pomona-Pitzer, falling 1-0.
It was also a tale of two halves for Cal Lutheran. In the first half, Pomona-Pitzer carried most of the possession with conservative passing and timely through-balls. With CLU unable to possess the ball, the Sagehens capitalized on a shot the ricocheted off the CLU goalie and landed right in front of Guy Thyer, allowing Thyer to put it away for the goal in the 21st minute.
Despite the lack of possession, CLU did have one legitimate scoring chance in the 11th minute when forward Kyle Fleming dribbled down the right flank, made a nifty move past a Sagehen defender and sent in a perfect cross, only to see forward Raul Yepez slip right before he could put a foot on it.
A rejuvenated CLU side showed up for the last 45 minutes as CLU dominated possession and constantly made attacking runs, outplaying Pomona-Pitzer for much of the second half. CLU outshot Pomona-Pitzer 11 to eight in the second half including five in the last ten minutes of the game.
In the 70th minute, Yepez had a blast from the right side just outside of the box that curved on goal, only to see Pomona-Pitzer goalkeeper Rollie Thayer, get a hand on it to knock it over the cross bar.
Thayer would make nearly an identical save two minutes later when midfielder Danny Kuntz received a pass with his back turned away from the goal, took one touch and fired a shot on goal with a diving Thayer knocking the ball away.
CLU's best scoring chance of the night came when freshman defender Alex Wardle made a run down the right side, received a pass, dribbled twice and shot but Thayer was able to corral the ball and keep the Kingsmen off the scoreboard.
The final chance for Cal Lutheran came in the 99th minute on a penalty kick when CLU pulled goalkeeper Rey Rivera-Ramos out of goal and tried a set piece with all ten players. The cross was on-target but a Kingsmen header went sailing wide clinching the victory for the Sagehens.
Ivan Sanchez led the Kingsmen with four shots as Peter Keks and Yepez each had three. Rivera-Ramos played admirably in goal, recording six saves.
CLU looks to even its record in the SCIAC this Wednesday, September 12, when they travel to La Verne to play the Leopards at 7:00 p.m.
Box Score: PP 1, CLU 0
