(SAN DIEGO) A goal in each half lifted No. 7 PLNU Men's Soccer to an impressive 2-0 shutout victory over perennial powerhouse Cal Poly Pomona on Saturday afternoon.
"It was an incredible performance," Head Coach
Phil Wolf said. "We rotated the team a little bit and the guys played great. I thought in the second half we were class."
Freshman midfielder
Jack Merrill tallied his first career collegiate goal in the 41st minute before
Inaki Santamarina rounded out the scoring in the 56th.
"Being up one-nil at halftime probably flattered us a little bit," Wolf said. "I think it probably should have been a nil-nil game at that point. I think they were probably a little bit better than us in the first half but as it happens in football, you score a goal and things change right away."
In a tightly-contested first half, Merrill broke the deadlock with a composed finish inside the box.
Matthew Vogel took a quick free kick to
Shawn O'Brien, whose shot was saved but straight into the path of Merrill, who powered a bouncing ball into the upper right corner of the net.
"Jack is a freshman and we're playing balls to him at the top of the penalty area," Wolf said. "He's just a brave kid who wants the ball and I think his future is so bright."
After taking a 1-0 lead into halftime, the Sea Lions doubled their advantage just over 10 minutes into the second half.
James Haynes was fouled just outside the box, setting up Santamarina to blast his free kick through the goalkeeper's hands and across the goal line.
"I was really pleased with how we started the second half," Wolf said. "The goal was fortunate, but it was a great action to get to where we were. We'll take it for sure."
Jeremy Caringella made three saves in goal to preserve the shutout, with PLNU's back four of O'Brien,
Gage Wasserman,
Jacob Rodriguez and
Diego Valles shutting down the Broncos' attack.
"I sense a little bit more pride in our defending this year, a little more pride in getting clean sheets," Wolf said. "We're not what I would call potent by any means at this point, but we're fairly organized right now and got a clean sheet today against a fantastic team.
"(Cal Poly Pomona Head Coach) Matt O'Sullivan and that team are always for me who we measure ourselves against, so I'm really pleased with our performance."
Point Loma (1-0-1 overall) next hits the road for three-straight contests, beginning with a pair of games in the Pacific Northwest.
PLNU will take on Western Washington on Thursday at 7 p.m. before playing at Seattle Pacific on Saturday at the same time.
"The more you look at our schedule, the more you realize how difficult it is," Wolf said. "It's a very hard schedule. Seattle Pacific beat Stanislaus, Western Washington beat Chico, so it's going to be everything we can ask for. It's going to be tough."
POSTGAME INTERVIEW
