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Jozkowicz Gives Lions First WCC Win
Oct. 10, 2008
Los Angeles, CA - Freshman Artur Jozkowicz scored the only goal for LMU on Friday at Sullivan Field but it was all the Lions (3-3-4) needed as they defeated Portland 1-0 to gain their first West Coast Conference win of the year and improve their WCC record to 1-1-0. Jozkowicz led the Lions with five shots on the game, including his game-winning goal in the 64th minute. He took the feed from junior Steffen Canty and touched the ball wide within the six-yard box. Jozkowicz faked out Pilots' goalie Austin Guerrero to slide the ball into the far side of the goal from an extreme angle. It was Jozkowicz' team-leading third goal of the season. The Lions thoroughly outshot their opponent for the third straight game, ending up with 19 shots to eight for Portland (4-5-2, 1-3-0 WCC). Coach Paul Krumpe is happy that his team took the coaches' advice to heart and is shooting more in recent games. "We've been hounding them about putting more and more shots on the frame," Krumpe said. "It usually pays off, on average a goal is scored on every 8-10 shots." Krumpe is confident that his team will start getting more goals as they continue to put more shots toward the goal. He feels they have just been unlucky. In their past three games, they have four goals total despite getting at least 19 shots in each game. In this contest, the team had numerous good chances to get more goals. The first came about 20 seconds into the game when Jozkowicz got past the defense and only had the goalie to beat. His shot beat Guerrero but hit the right post. The Lions almost scored to end the first half as well as sophomore Rafael Baca took one of his three shots with 23 seconds left, but Guerrero made a diving stop to keep the game scoreless. About ten minutes after Jozkowicz' goal in the second half, freshman Phil Da Silva took a shot from the center of the box that went just wide of the net.
While the Lions' offense had many near misses, their defense smothered the Pilots, especially in the first half. The Lion defense held the Pilots to just one shot in the opening 45 minutes. Portland was more effective in the second half with seven shots, but only two of their shots for the game were put on net. Portland's best chance came in the 87th minute when Frankie Lopez's long-range effort came back off the crossbar. The win gives the Lions momentum as they play Gonzaga at home on Sunday in what should prove to be another difficult WCC matchup. Every WCC game is key to LMU as Krumpe said they will almost certainly need to win the league to make the NCAA tournament. Krumpe said, "We have to take care of business at home. There's more pressure on the WCC teams to win their home games this year and then you just have to go on the road and do what you can." Junior Patrick Sampson had two saves for LMU for his third career shutout. Guerrero had five stops and Portland had two as a team. Defenders twice came to Guerrero's rescue by clearing Lion shots off the line. Sunday's kickoff against Gonzaga is scheduled for 2 p.m.
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