photo by Jenna Campbell
Midfielder Ruben Trujillo (No. 11) of the Leopards was cheered for by the La Verne spectators when he aggressively took control of the ball. Trujillo scored a goal against Whittier to put ULV up by one. The Leopards beat the Poets 3-2, Saturday at Ben Hines Field.
The University of La Verne men’s soccer team finished its 2004 Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference season with a 1-0 loss to Claremont-Mudd-Scripps on Wednesday.
In previous action, ULV came out with a 1-1 tie with California Lutheran University on Oct. 31 and a 3-2 victory against Whittier College on Oct. 30.
In their last SCIAC game, the Leopards were defeated by the Stags in double overtime, 1-0. The game-winning goal was shot by CMS senior midfielder Henry Bustamante in the eighth minute of the second overtime.
“We had a couple of chances to put it away but we just couldn’t put it in and finish it,” senior midfielder Chet Jusakul said.
The Leopards and Stags fought in an intense battle on offense and defense throughout the entire game.
“It was a tough game,” Jusakul said. “We played at their level, no question about that, we came out big and we hung in there.”
“It was a really good game, it could have gone either way, and our energy was so intense, that we should have won this game,” sophomore midfielder Ruben Trujillo said.
On Oct. 31 at Ben Hines Field, the Leopards faced a tough battle against Cal Lutheran resulting in a 1-1 tie after double overtime.
The Kingsmen got to the scoreboard first with a goal in the 14th minute by Brian Blevins.
The Leopards finally retaliated with a goal in the 77th minute by freshman defenseman Andrew Tillehkooh. After two overtimes, no winning goal was scored by either side.
The Leopards and Kingsmen played a rough game with three yellow cards and total of 32 fouls between the two teams.
The game had been previously scheduled for Oct. 27, but was postponed due to the unsafe rain conditions.
On Oct. 30 at Ben Hines Field, the Leopards competed in a close battle with the Whittier Poets, as the fate of the game came down to the final goal scored by La Verne sophomore forward Steven Lane with 45 seconds remaining on the clock. Lane’s late goal against the Poets led to the Leopards to a 3-2 triumph.
Whittier jumped on the scoreboard first in the fourth minute with a goal by Billy Schultz. ULV struck back at the Poets with a goal by sophomore midfielder Daniel Aguirre in the 37th minute to tie the score before the half.
La Verne broke the tie and took the lead in the 45th minute with a goal from Trujillo.
However, the Leopards could not hold on to the lead as the Poets scored with a penalty kick from Ben Stockler to tie up the game.
Just as the battle seemed to be headed for overtime, Lane scored the game-winning goal in the 89th minute.
The Leopards finished a very successful season ranked fifth in SCIAC. Some season highlights for the Leopards were defeating Chapman University in preseason competition and tying with Cal Lu for the first time in the University’s history.
“A lot of good things have happened this season,” said ULV head coach Crescencio Gonzalez. “I hope we have learned something from SCIAC competition, that it is very physical, aggressive and competitive.”
Gonzalez noted that he was very thankful for the commitment of Jusakul, his lone senior player, in his final season with the Leopards.
“This game against Claremont makes the team think about what they should prepare for next season, what they need to work on, what they need to do to get the win,” Jusakul said.
With such a young team of primarily freshmen and sophomores, Gonzalez has strong confidence for the program’s future.
“This season has given us a great reason to be optimistic,” Gonzalez said.
Nicole Knight can be reached at stareknight17@charter.net.