ORANGE, Calif. - This afternoon the Cal Lutheran men's soccer team headed out on the road for the first time this season. They return home tonight with a 3-1 victory over Chapman after opening their Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) season.
In another total team effort the Kingsmen earned their third consecutive victory of the season and have not trailed in 270 minutes of action. The goals came from three different players and as the success on the field continues to shine the apparent dedication levels remain high as the squad is steadily improving.
On paper the stats looked even with CU taking 18 shots and CLU firing off 15, but the Violet and Gold were more accurate with nine on goal to the Panthers' five. Chapman earned eight corner kicks while the Kingsmen tallied just three.
"Our team is looking stronger and stronger each game," Salvador Orozco said after the game. "We controlled the game from the moment the whistle blew."
For the second straight game CLU came out hot, scoring early. In the 5th minute Matt Hubbard scored on a pass from Cameron Rude to give the Kingsmen an early 1-0 advantage.
After halftime, CLU pushed their lead to 2-0 when Orozco scored the first goal of his Cal Lutheran career in the 64th minute on a free-kick right outside the 18 yard box.
Realizing a dream by even being at Cal Lutheran, Orozco had a special game today.
"Scoring today was like, 'I'm finally here' and all my hard work has paid off," he went on, "But it also means that I have to keep performing and working harder to get better and closer to our objective as a team."
Just like in any game, CLU made a few mistakes and Chapman used those to their advantage, hitting a couple of crossbars and gaining some confidence, which worried the Kingsmen for a few minutes. The Panthers were able to find the back of the net for the only time of the game in the 67th minute on an unassisted goal from Nick Echeverry to cut the Cal Lutheran lead in half.
"Our team is so deep and composed that we were able to handle it, hold the lead and score another goal towards the end to clinch the win," Orozco said.
The third and final score of the contest came in the 82nd minute. Kyle Fleming took the ball up the sidelines and played a perfect pass on the ground to Julian Hernandez, who recorded a goal in his second consecutive game.
"I knew I had to score and once the ball was in the back of the net we [Kyle and I] both knew we sealed the win," Hernandez shared at the conclusion of the game.
During the final eight minutes Chapman had two chances with a shot and a corner kick, but the CLU defense stepped up and finished the game strong.
Goalkeeper Jack Duncan played all 90 minutes, recording four saves. Offensively for CLU, Orozco took a game-high five shots with four on target. Ivan Sanchez took a trio of shots for the Kingsmen today.
Chapman (2-2, 1-1 SCIAC) was led by Echeverry, Karam Gill and Boston Kimmel who took three shots apiece. CU goalie Nick Berardi saved six shots for the Panthers.
Cal Lutheran (3-1) will be back at Rolland Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 14 for a 7:00 p.m. kickoff against Claremont-Mudd-Scripps.
Box Score: CLU 3, CU 1
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