Westmont ran into a strong Cal State San Bernardino team in its season opener and dropped a 3-0 decision at Thorrington Field on Saturday.
San Bernardino scored all its goals in the second half.
“Number one, outstanding opponent and secondly we were not tough enough on the ball,” Westmont coach Dave Wolf said. “If you look at all three goals, I think what you’ll see is that they’re aggression turned us over.”
Westmont goalkeeper Lalo Delgado kept the Coyotes off the board in the first half with some brilliant play. In the sixth mintue, he came sliding out and contested a shot by Kieron Coleman.
The Coyotes broke through six minutes into the second half, when Humberto Salcedo fired a shot left of the box. Lalo dove to make the save, but Isaias Castellanos was there to finish the loose ball in the back of the net.
The Coyotes struck again in the 72nd minute when Westmont gave the ball up in the midfield and Tony Lo broke away finding himself one-on-one against Delgado. Lo slipped the ball under Delgado giving San Bernardino a 2-0 advantage.
The final goal came in the 90th minute when Kevin Aguilar bulldozed his way through four Warrior defenders and fired a shot past Delgado putting the Coyotes up for the final score of 3-0.
“The season doesn’t really start until you’ve been punched in the mouth,” Wolf said. “I think that we got that in the opener. Any delusions of grandeur that we may have had about the UCSB game (a 2-1 victory) — how good we’re going to be this year —those get put away now. Now you go to work.
The Warriors return to play next Saturday, Sept. 2 against UC Merced. Kickoff is scheduled for 3 p.m.