Westmont Men’s Soccer battled long-time rival Azusa Pacific to a 1-1 draw on Saturday in a nonconference men’s soccer match at Thorrington Field.
Lucky Puengrod scored the equalizer for the Warriors in the 74th minute.
This was the 50th meeting between the two programs. Westmont continues to hold the overall advantage with a record of 30-15-5 against the Cougars, who are now a NCAA Division 2 program.
“If they were in the NAIA, they would be in the top-10, with aspirations to win a national championship. A point against that team for us is probably a pretty good result,” said Westmont coach Dave Wolf.
The Warriors (4-2-2) had an opportunity to strike first in the first minute of the game. Jeremiah Anderson ran onto a through ball and had an open look at goal, but ran out of room to get the shot off.
“We had a couple of really nice spells of moving the ball. That was great to see,” noted Wolf. “It’s one thing to do that in training and it’s something to do it against a team of that quality. That was a really big positive.”
In the 18th minute, Azusa Pacific’s Gabriel Costa took a touch to his right and ripped a ball from 25 yards out that nailed the crossbar.
Costa connected for the Cougars (3-1-1) in the 53rd minute. Gregoire Diep stole the ball from a Westmont defender and sent the ball into the box for Costa. He eluded two defenders before firing a shot past Lalo Delgado to give Azusa Pacific the lead.
The Warriors got off 11 shots on the day – four of which were on goal. None was bigger than the game-tying shot by Puengrod in the 74th minute.
Puengrod came flying in to intercept an Azusa pass,v dribbled quickly into the box and fired from 15 yards out past the keeper to tie the game.
“We’ve seen Lucky really working on both sides of the ball,” Wolf said. “He makes and takes that goal all by himself. You have to put that one down to a combination of his effort and his quality, it’s as simple as that.”
At the end of regulation, the score remained tied at one. The first overtime period came and went without much danger for either team. In the second overtime period, Azusa Pacific got two shots off on target, but Delgado was equal to the test making two saves – he finished with five on the game.
Owen Bates created an opportunity in the second overtime for the Warriors. Christian Webb played him the ball right at midfield. Bates turned and made a nice 45-yard run to goal. The Cougar keeper met him at the top of the box to evade the threat.
“Right now, Owen is making a case for himself,” said Wolf. “He’s three games on the trot right now, Corban, Antelope Valley, and now we have Azusa Pacific. He’s had impacts in all of those games. He’s earned himself more looks and consideration.
“I think Sam Tuscano is in there as well,” Wolf added. “Those guys have been real patient. We really liked them as attacking players in the recruiting process. Owen’s done really well and we need to keep looking at him as a result.”