Men’s and women’s soccer split double header

Women win first conference game; men lose in heartbreaker to Aztecs

Mari Olson / Sports Editor / The USD Vista

Women’s Soccer

The University of San Diego women’s soccer team took the field at Torero Stadium on Friday, Oct. 15 against Loyola Marymount University (LMU), wearing pink in recognition of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. The Toreros beat the Lions 2-0 for their first conference win of the season. 

The LMU Lions are 0-13  this season and 0-3 in conference play so far. The team has scored only six goals over 13 matches. 

USD’s record against LMU is 17-2, and the Toreros are 9-1 at home against the Lions. With the win on Friday, the Toreros extended their winning streak against the Lions to five games.

USD played a much more open game than they have in the past few matches, passing through the midfield with better accuracy and more direction. It paid off for the Toreros, with the team finding two open play goals over the 90 minutes, one in each half.

First-year forward, Sara Evans, scored both goals. In the 32nd minute, Evans placed a shot into the bottom left corner of LMU’s goal. She was assisted by fellow first-year midfielder, Bella Piete. In the 74th minute, Evans registered her second shot on target and her second goal, putting on a solo show with a high shot to the top left corner past LMU junior goalkeeper, Kendyll Humphreys. 

Evans was happy with her first, official two goals as a Torero after the game.

“It feels great, I’ve been looking for it this entire season so it feels good to get not only one, but two (goals) tonight,” Evans said. “Seeing our hard work pay off is really exciting.” 

The second goal sealed the deal for the Toreros. The Lions were unable to overcome the two-goal deficit, and USD played out the final 15 minutes to finally record a conference win. 

Senior goalkeeper, Ellyn Casto, and the rest of the USD defense played a major role to keep the Lions out of the goal. In the 65th minute, first-year defender, Tiana Egland, had an important block to prevent an LMU attacker from attempting a shot on goal. 

Team captain and redshirt junior defender, Michaela Foster, organized the team from the defense. 

“To keep the clean sheet is really exciting, I think Tiana [Egland] really stepped up tonight which is cool to see. We were strong defensively and as a team we did well,” Foster said. 

Coach Louise Lieberman was happy with the win, but knew her team had more in their locker. 

“Any time you get any kind of win it feels good. We know we can be better, so that’s the part when a coach walks away, you want to improve so much for the next game, but there’s definitely some good things,” Lieberman said.

Lieberman and the team hope this game will give them a boost heading into the last five conference games of the season. 

“A win allows the girls to believe and allows it to give us more momentum, so I’m excited if it’s going to do that and it’s going to help us move forward stronger into the next match,” Lieberman said.

Men’s Soccer 

Men’s soccer played San Diego State University  (SDSU) immediately after the women’s game. USD was 4-5 against the Aztecs coming into Friday night’s game, and although it looked like a promising game for the Toreros, USD lost the game 1-2. Their record on the season fell to 1-12.  

San Diego State plays in the PAC-12 Conference against some of the best teams in the country. Their sophomore goalkeeper, Jacob Castro, is the second-best goalkeeper in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the moment, with seven shutouts in twelve games. The Aztecs conceded the third fewest goals in the nation, allowing only six. In other words, SDSU is a good defensive team. 

Although the Toreros went down early in the game, after a 6th minute goal by SDSU sophomore midfielder, Andre Ochoa, they fought hard to not let the game slip away. 

A solid defensive performance, led by senior defender and team captain, Michael Barrow, at center back, limited the Aztecs to one shot on goal in the first half. USD senior goalkeeper, Berk Watson, did not have to make a single save in the first 45 minutes. 

In the second half, the Torero attack began to fire up. Junior midfielder, Mason Tunbridge, sophomore forward, Rhys Gourdie, and first-year forward, Luke Pardoe, caused trouble for the Aztec defense and fired shot after shot at Castro. 

The crosstown rivalry was alive and well in Friday night’s match, with the players getting into two separate altercations during the game. The referee had to play peacekeeper to keep the game under control as the tension began to boil over. 

Finally, the Toreros found their equalizer: in the 88th minute, Tunbridge, Pardoe, and sophomore midfielder, Ross Johnstone, combined to squeeze the ball through a cluster of Aztec defenders and just into the goal to make the score 1-1. Credit for the goal was given to Johnstone, for his first of the season.

It seemed like the Toreros would be able to hold on for the final two minutes to take the game into overtime, but a controversial foul called by the referee gave SDSU a free kick just outside USD’s penalty box in the final ten seconds of the game. 

The Aztecs were able to take advantage, scoring a tap-in goal off the free kick in the final seconds, giving SDSU the lead at 1-2. USD players dropped to the ground as the whistle blew. 

Barrow wasn’t entirely happy with the game immediately afterward. 

“I feel like we played well, just the way we lost, I’m a bit upset right now. Bad emotions, because of the way the goal went in the last ten seconds, but we’ll calm down and look at it again,” Barrow said.

Tunbridge was proud of his team for the fight they showed against a good team.

“To compete with a top 25 team in the country and make them look mediocre for large periods of the game, outshot them, had more corners, so the boys can just be proud of that fight and heart,” Tunbridge said.

Head coach Brian Quinn described his emotions after the loss. 

“Exciting, enjoyable, and ultimately disappointing with how they ended up with four seconds to go. All credit to the team,” Quinn said. “On another night we win that game.” 

Quinn talked about the season as a whole. 

“Personally, it’s been a humbling season because of great expectations coming in with this group, and then we lost a couple of games early and it shook our confidence a little bit, but the players never wavered in regards to their training habits and how they approach every game,” Quinn said. “It’s been a difficult season, number one, and secondly, this is such a big rivalry, I think our players stepped up tonight. I’m really, really proud of them.”

Women’s soccer will take on the University of Portland on Oct. 20 away and men’s soccer plays Santa Clara University away on Oct. 23.