Oct. 2, 2009

Listen to Coach Krumpe's post game quotes

LOS ANGELES, Calif. - In their first conference match up this season, LMU men's soccer proved that they had the will to win. Trailing 2-0 despite having more offensive opportunities, the Lions (6-3-0, 1-0-0) never let up, and their intensity and pressure paid off with a big 3-2 West Coast Conference win in overtime against defending champion San Francisco (3-4-1, 0-1-0) at Sullivan Field on Friday afternoon.

With the game tied at 2-2, junior Rafael Baca charged up mid-field, passing the ball Phil Da Silva who punched it in the net past the USF goalie to end the game at 98:26.

Head Coach Paul Krumpe said this about his team's big win: "Good teams fight through adversity...knowing we can come back from a two goal deficit is huge."

With just over ten minutes of play in the first-half, USF's Conor Chin scored the first goal of the game. Assisted by Rafai Eddy, USF's break down field and Chin's fast ground shot just escaped LMU goalie Max Young to give them and early lead. LMU kept striking throughout the first half and had a few close calls, including a deflected penalty kick by Rafael Baca, however came up unlucky in part due to USF's goalie, freshman Brendan Roslud's stellar play with five saves in just the first half. While LMU outshot USF ten to five and had five corner kicks, the Lion's remained scoreless in the first half.

At the start of the second half, USF had another early goal by Justin Kendro just one minute into play, to give them the lead by two goals. However, LMU continued to play un-phased, remaining focused with strong defensive play by sophomore Roger Downes and senior Andrew Kristof. It was freshman John Ikard's goal at 57:00 minutes, assist by Logan McDaniel that set the Lion's in motion. Ikard's close, fast strike put the ball just past USF's goalie and gave the Lion's the momentum they needed. From here, even though they were still down by one goal the Lion's played with the same confidence and composure as if they had the lead.

As time started to wind down in the second half, LMU continued to strike at USF's goal coming up empty handed, until with only four minutes left in regulation Kyle Johanson passed the ball up field to Rafael Baca who's speed and footwork beat out the USF defenders to score over the top of the goalie and tie the game at 2-2 and set up Da Silva's overtime winner.

With the game momentum and spirit of the home field crowd on LMU's side, the Lion's entered overtime with twenty-one shots on goal and nine corner kicks. Head Coach Paul Krumpe commented on the Lion's determination, "It was relentless pressure, we out-shot them today, out cornered them...it was just a matter of time, I knew if we went into overtime we would win."

Next on the Lion's schedule, they will travel up north to play Gonzaga on October 9th and Portland on October 11th.