Warriors Fall in Final Moments

By Brandon Petersen

Much of Friday's match between Westcliff and UC Merced went as expected.

It was a hard-fought, tightly-contested affair that could have gone either way. 

The match was steamrolling toward a scoreless tie, then a double-yellow ejection of Lucas Tura left the Warriors down a player with 10 minutes left. 

Five minutes later, UC Merced slow-rolled a goal past a flummoxed Warrior defense.

"Very disciplined for the most of the game, and then a silly choice to challenge a ball," Westcliff head coach Tom Lancaster said. "We didn't need to do it, makes it tough to play with 10 men. We were doing OK, and it was a soft goal to give away, not enough pressure, they turned and rolled it in. 

"I believe we can do a littler better there."

The Warriors were visibly frustrated after the contest and understandably so, they had an opportunity to pick up a nice win to start Cal Pac play.

One loss, however, does not a season make, and UC Merced didn't run away with anything in Irvine. 

Shooting-wise, the Bobcats enjoyed a 15-10 advantage.

Noah Schwengeler collected three saves for the Warriors, Marco Sobrevilla had four for Merced.

"It's a shame," Lancaster said. "Those are games we should be putting away."

Up next, the Warriors (1-4-1) host La Sierra Sunday at the Great Park.

Lancaster was asked what the Warriors need to do to get the win against the Golden Eagles.

"Energy levels," Lancaster said. "We need to shake this one off. If we bring our energy levels, we'll be just fine."