Jose Brambila
Assistant Sports Editor
Senior midfielder Justin Funes opened the scoring for La Verne after taking a shot outside the 18-yard box, placing it in the far corner, to lead the Leopards to a 2-0 win over the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Stags.
La Verne is now 7-1-1 overall and 5-1-1 in Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play.
The first dangerous play that La Verne had resulted in a goal.
Senior forward Nathan Gonzalez dribbled from the left side inward and passed it to Funes, who scored from outside the box. Gonzalez has five goals and four assists for the Leopards this season.
“We were concerned about what we did when we had the ball,” senior defender Ferdinand Estrada said. “We were dangerous with our chances, especially on the counter attack.”
The Leopards dominated with a high press, causing Stag turnovers in their own half of the field. Freshman forward Christopher Wong scored off a deflection when he shot it at the back post.
“It was a simple tap in,” Wong said. “I was in the right place at the right time and I had an amazing cross from Ryan Adams, but it really felt amazing to score and help our team win.”
The first half ended with La Verne up 2-0 against CMS.
The Leopards dominated the Stags by an astonishing 11 shots to 2 after the first 45 minutes.
“Our defensive unit fought hard the whole game and dominated their forwards shutting down any chance they created,” freshman forward Jack Kolodge said. “Our forwards and wingers combined the whole game, which allowed us to dominate so much offensively.”
CMS made several substitutions in the beginning of the second half to try to get back in the game. However, it was not meant to be for the Stags as the Leopards would hold on to win away from home for the third time in SCIAC play this season.
Estrada said the Leopards are ready to compete with anyone in SCIAC, but they are taking it one win at a time.
“We’ve got ourselves in a good position to get into the tournament,” Estrada said. “We know that whoever we play in the tournament we know we have a chance to compete with them.”
Their quest continues at Cal Lutheran at 4 p.m. Saturday.
Jose Brambila can be reached at jose.brambila@laverne.edu or on Twitter @Jozy_Brambila7.
