Taking on #10 Seattle Pacific (3-0) at Interbay Soccer Stadium, Westmont Men’s Soccer (1-1-2) suffered a 3-2 loss on Thursday night in their first of two games during a road trip to Washington. It was the first time the two teams had played each other since 1995.

“Overall, we improved in areas of the game, especially in our ability to find the ways that we could expose the opponent – in and out of possession,” assessed Westmont’s head coach Morgan Cathey. “We pressed well throughout the game.

“Unfortunately, the margins are quite small in a game where we are playing one of the best teams in the country. We, obviously, want some of the moments back that we gave away. We need to be more disciplined in not making mistakes.

“At the same time, in the attacking third, it definitely showed us where we could be better. We got into some really good spaces and were running at their back line a lot. We just lacked the final action. We took one too many touches too often and didn’t vary our movement in the final third quite enough. That is where we can be more proficient as a team.

“I was really proud of our effort, overall. This year, it has been great to see how much our guys want to fight and bring as much as they can. I thought today they did that.”

The first score came in the 17th minute when Rafael Lucio converted a penalty kick to give Seattle Pacific a 1-0 lead. The PK was the result of a Falcon being upended just inside the 18-yard box.

Westmont found the equalizer in the 63rd minute. Tiago Aranibar took a corner kick from the right side and sent it into the box in front of the goal. The ball rebounded back toward Aranibar who served it back in from a yard outside the box.

This time, Aranibar’s cross connected with Weston Ash, who headed it into the far crease. It was Ash’s first goal of the season and his seventh as a Warrior.

“It was great for Wes to be alive and be in the right spaces,” said Cathey. “He had only one effort on goal in the game and he kept it on target. He did really well in that moment.”

Three minutes later, however, the Falcons recovered the lead on a give-and-go in which Isaac Grimes scored after passing the ball to JP Guzman near the end line. Guzman passed it back to Grimes whose shot from eight yards out found the right-hand crease.

In the 74th minute, Seattle Pacific was awarded a second penalty kick when a Falcon was tripped up just inside the 18-yard box on the right side. Once again, Lucio stepped up for the PK and made the shot, giving the Falcons a 3-1 advantage.

Then in the 82nd minute, it was Westmont which was awarded a penalty kick after Kevin Johnson was pulled to the ground while running toward the goal on a free kick.

Cole Lomeli stepped up for the PK and sent the ball into the back netting on the left side to pull the Warriors to within one (3-2). It was Lomeli’s first goal of the season and the seventh of his career. Unfortunately, that was the last shot the Warriors would take.

Among the highlights for Cathey was the play of junior forward Luis Cortes.

“Luis was really good today with his energy and his effort. He was relentless. He kept finding the ball for himself and winning the ball high up the field. He was dynamic and creative and won us a couple of dangerous set plays. He found really good pockets and his work rate was outstanding.”

The next stop for the Warriors is in Bellingham where they will take on the Vikings of Western Washington (3-0) on Saturday evening.Â