(SANTA BARBARA, Calif.) Westmont Men’s Soccer (2-3-1) earned its second win of the season, defeating Cal State East Bay (0-4-1) on an exceptionally hot day at Thorrington Field.

The temperature, which reached triple digits, delayed the start of the game for one hour, but it did not appear to deter either team’s enthusiasm or effort.

Westmont got on the scoreboard first, scoring on an own goal in the 30th minute. Cole Lomeli sent a corner kick to the front of the goal that was headed by Logan Race toward the goal. The ball was deflected by East Bay goalkeeper Adam Corona back into the field of play, then bounced off a Pioneer defender’s leg and redirected back into the goal.

Westmont’s head coach Morgan Cathey offered a stellar review of the Warriors’ early play. “I think the first half was the best we have had this season, as far as a half of football. I thought we were really dominant in every phase. Their goalkeeper came up with two good saves. Any other day, I thought we should have been up by a couple of goals at halftime.

“Then, to not give up a shot, or a shot on goal, in the half was outstanding. Those are the things we talked about before the game – focus on our final third quality and our defensive quality. I thought the guys came out and executed really well.”

Westmont added to its lead in the 60th minute. On a free kick from 25 yards out, Lomeli blasted a shot through a three-man wall that bounced around before landing near the penalty spot.

Corbin Kuhn dashed beyond the wall, let the ball travel past him, then planted his right foot and fired a left-footed shot inside the left upright, giving Westmont a 2-0 lead.

Less than four minutes later, East Bay was awarded a free kick from 23 yards in front of goal. Guilherme Azevedo took the kick and sent it along the ground into the left-hand crease to draw the Pioneers within one goal (2-1).

“I thought we started the second half in a good way,” appraised Cathey. “Then, we gave them one or two chances. (Goalkeeper) Aidan Strickler made a big save to keep us in the game. Unfortunately, I think we should have done better on the set play.

“They had two or three chances from bad fouls we gave up outside the box. We just need to be better to not give up those chances to begin with. Hats off to East Bay – they scored a free kick goal.”

Just 24 seconds after that, Westmont scored again, restoring the Warriors’ two-goal advantage. Freshman Julius Oehmichen located himself near the left touchline, in front of East Bay’s bench.

After receiving a pass, Oehmichen dribbled at an angle toward the center of the pitch, beating two defenders before slotting a ball forward to Luis Cortes. Cortes stopped the ball, spun around, then dribbled to the top of the penalty arc. From 21 yards out, Cortes used his right foot to send the ball inside the left post.

“Luis has been one of our top performers,” noted Cathey. “At the same time, he hasn’t added the final action to his game enough. So, for him to finally get in a position to be clinical the way we have seen him do it in training, made me so happy for him.

“I also thought that Julius’ magic to come inside and beat a few players was outstanding. Then, he set up Luis with a really good pass. It was a really good moment for our team.”

In the 68th minute, an area power outage, likely tied to the extreme heat, took the scoreboard out of the game. That turned the center referee into the official timekeeper for the remainder of the competition.

The Pioneers tallied a second goal in the 89th minute – a looping shot over everyone’s head by Alejandro Zarate that bounded into the goal.

“Unfortunately, the sun made that difficult to deal with,” said Cathey. “Aidan wasn’t able to see the ball, so it was tough for him to make a play. But, it was an excellent play from an excellent player that was the CCAA Offensive Player of the Year last season.”

The late goal made the score 3-2 in favor of the Warriors, but it was the last goal the Pioneers would score.

 Westmont will be back in action on Saturday when they host the Golden Eagles of #8 Cal State LA (4-0) at Thorrington Field in a 1:00 p.m. game.