Men's soccer falls to Minnesota's Carleton, 4-0
Four scores and six days ago the University of La Verne men's soccer team
made its official appearance on the field as the match up against the Carleton
Knights from Minnesota ended with the Leopards falling short, 4-0.
La Verne never had a chance to score as Carleton swiftly played the ball
to a victory against the newly formed ULV soccer team led by first time
head coach Mike Collins.
Early into the first half Carleton drove the ball deep into Leopards territory
scoring with 24:50 on the board giving them a 1-0 advantage.
Struggling throughout the rest of the half to get on the board a scoring
attempt was made by sophomore Sean Piazza with 16:47 still on the clock.
"We didn't know what to expect. We didn't know much about Carleton's
team," said Collins of the team's loss.
Playing Carleton for the first time the Leopards headed into the game with
no former knowledge of the Division III, Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic
Conference (MIAC) team.
"We only had eight days together before the game," said Collins.
Adding to the high impact defensive match was freshman center midfielder
Armando Hernandez who's technique could be seen through out the field.
"We have good talent but we haven't come together quiet yet,. We'll
be able to mesh together in time, and hopefully go to conference,"
said Hernandez.
Only down by one goal, La Verne had plenty of time to get back into the
game and tie up the 1-0 lead by the Knights.
Halftime was a quick break for the Leopards to refocus and come back into
the last half with a fresh tactic.
Carleton took that time to reorganize its defense and buckle down its offense.
And by the end of the evening the Knights gained three more goals and cleared
La Verne right off the scoreboard.
With 23:04 set on the clock Carleton struck goal number two, and merely
minutes later, diluted the defense long enough to hike its lead to 3-0.
Later, the Knights shocked La Verne's goalie with another blast that raised
their score to 4-0.
"We still have a lot of work to do, we need to work out the rough edges
and fine tune a few things," said Collins.
"The game against UC Santa Cruz should be a well rounded match, we
have been working hard and we have lots of key players," said Hernandez.
"Every game is key, we just have to learn how to step up especially
for the conference games," said Hernandez.
The team plays at the University of California, Santa Cruz tomorrow at 1
p.m.