PASADENA, CA – The University of La Verne men's soccer team routed the Caltech Beavers in a blowout 5-0 victory Saturday morning. An important win for the Leopards as they continue competing for postseason positioning. With their third win in a row, the Leopards are now just one point behind the top-seeded Redlands with a record of 7-4-4 and a conference record of 5-2-2. Redlands leads the SCIAC with 18 points, and La Verne and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps follow with 17 points.
Five minutes into the first half,
Diego Soto would intercept a pass intended for a Beaver defender. Put in an advantageous position, Soto capitalized with a hurried pass to
Alexander Bastidas, who buried the first goal for the Leopards in the bottom right corner. Bastidas earned his team-leading sixth goal of the season.
A couple of minutes later,
Joel Trejo would launch a pass from distance that connected with the head of
Julian Arellano for the Leopards' second goal of the morning. Arellano earned his first goal of the season to put La Verne up 2-0.
The Leopards continued to rain goals in the first half as just five minutes later
Diego Soto connected on a low shot from distance. Soto loaded up with his left foot and delivered a stunning goal in the bottom left corner to put the Leopards up three with his sixth goal of the season.
Tragedy struck for the Beavers in the 39th minute as intense pressure from the Leopards forced a costly backwards pass that would roll past their keeper for an own goal. This prompted some reckless play from Caltech that was punished with a red card. The Beavers were forced to play the rest of the game down a player.
The Leopards finished their dominant victory with a set-piece goal off a corner kick from
Damian Avila-Campos and a header from
Julio Toaza. Toaza scored his first goal of the season, and Avila-Campos earned his first assist.
The Leopards return to Ortmayer Stadium Wednesday night at 7 p.m. to take on the UC Santa Cruz Banana Slugs. The matchup between La Verne and UCSC was originally scheduled for Thursday. The Slugs are coming off an upset victory over the No. 17 Redlands Bulldogs.
