Romualdo Sanchez
Staff Writer
After a hard-fought game, La Verne tied 1-1 against Pomona-Pitzer at Ortmayer Stadium Saturday night.
“We weren’t playing to what we were practicing and practiced throughout the week,” junior defender Michael Duran said.
Pomona-Pitzer struck first, a minute and a half into the game, with a goal scored by Pomona-Pitzer freshman midfielder Keyon Namdar.
“We told them for the first five minutes – do not roll the ball short, do not kick the ball short, kick it to the back side of the defense so we can stretch them out,” head coach Trevor Persson said. “They rolled it short, they played it short and gave up a goal.”
Less than five minutes into the game, a yellow card was given to La Verne’s sophomore defender Anthony Bastidas and the Sagehens were granted a penalty shot, however junior goalkeeper Logan Reese made the save.
Pomona’s tactic was to keep the ball in the air by doing several headers to keep La Verne from controlling the ball, but the Leopards did not allow it, leaving the score at 1-0 at the end of the first half.
“We had a hiccup in the first half,” freshman midfielder Alexander Basitdas said. “I think we started the game slow, and it got to us by the second half.”
Sure enough, the Leopards came out strong in the second half. Thanks to a corner kick, Adan Villareal scored and tied the game, 1-1.
“I’m not comfortable with a tie, we should be winning,” junior forward Adan Villareal said.
Villareal is currently the leading scorer for the Leopards. Saturday’s goal marked his ninth of the season, making it a three-way tie atop the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference leaderboard with Whittier’s Lawrence Dydell and Caltech’s Etienne Casanova.
La Verne and Pomona-Pitzer currently have four ties each.
Persson felt the team’s performance could have been better.
“It should’ve been 2-0 in the first four minutes, off of not listening to the game plan and doing what they want,” Persson said. “We just continue to make silly mistakes.”
The Leopards also took on Redlands Wednesday night at home and suffered a 2-1 loss.
The Leopards are now 4-5-4 overall and are 0-4-4 in SCIAC play.
Saturday, the Leopards travel to Pomona-Pitzer for a 4 p.m. game then hit the road again for a 7 p.m. game Wednesday at Redlands.
Romualdo Sanchez can be reached at romualdo.sanchez@laverne.edu.
Romualdo Sanchez is a junior journalism major with a concentration in broadcast journalism and a staff writer for the Campus Times.
Nareg Agopian is a staff photographer for the Campus Times and La Verne Magazine.
