Oct. 23, 2008

Box Score

Los Angeles, CA - LMU found itself unlucky as it hit the woodwork three times before conceding two second half goals in a 2-0 loss to San Diego in a West Coast Conference match Thursday afternoon at Sullivan Field. The Lions (4-5-5, 2-3-1 WCC) suffer their first home loss in a conference game this season while the Toreros (5-6-3, 5-1-0 WCC) finish the first half of WCC play atop the league standings.

The Lions came out firing as sophomore Rafael Baca was the first Lion to hit the crossbar, watching as his shot from 16 yards came back off the bar just a little more than a minute into the game. It was the first of three shots on the game for Baca, tying him for the team lead with senior Brad Stisser.

Stisser had the second great scoring opportunity for the Lions in the 24th minute. His shot from the right side of the box was slightly deflected by a defender but still found its way to the crossbar, which it grazed before going over the goal. LMU controlled the play for much of the first half, as evidenced by its eight corner kicks in the half.

Coach Paul Krumpe sees this game as a microcosm of the season to this point: "We outplayed them, we hit the post three times. For whatever reason we've been very unlucky putting things away this year."

The Toreros came out and pushed the play more in the second half, when they had eight corner kicks of their own. Despite that, the Lions still had good scoring opportunities, including a shot by Stisser in the 70th minute that just missed the post and hit the side of the net. About ten minutes later, junior Andrew Kristof fired a shot that first hit off the post and then the goalie before going out-of-bounds and leaving the game scoreless.

San Diego ended the tie on an unassisted goal by Trevor May in the 70th minute, his second of the season. May found himself with the ball after junior Patrick Sampson came out to play a free kick and had it go through his hands to the waiting foot of May, who knocked it home. Andrew Feld added an insurance goal in the 86th minute for San Diego, his fifth of the season, off an assist from JT Howlan.

Sampson ended up with seven saves for LMU and Kelin Briones had two for San Diego. The two teams will meet again on Sunday in San Diego at 1 p.m.

- GO LIONS -