The Westmont men’s soccer team (4-5, 2-2) never quite looked settled in what turned out to be a 3-1 loss at the hands of The Master’s (5-6-1, 2-2). At one point, the Mustangs held a 2-0 lead before the Warriors scored and threatened to find an equalizer.
Ultimately, a goal by The Master’s in the final 10 minutes solidified the Warriors’ fate on Saturday at the Montecito college.
“The numbers don’t lie at this point in the season,” said Westmont head coach Dave Wolf.”We are just not good enough right now. We had a really disappointing start to the game, and it set the tone for the entire match.
“We’ve been talking so much about changing our form at home, and we came out with an effort that did not match the conversation. We’re 2-4 now at home and quite frankly that is an embarrassment. The conversation at this point just has to be honest.”
In the ninth minute, a rare miscue from Westmont’s captain Zach Godeck allowed The Master’s to take a quick 1-0 lead. Godeck possessed the ball a yard outside of his own 18 and attempted to move the ball up field to a Warrior midfielder.
What Godeck didn’t see was The Master’s Prince Chingancheke reading the pass the whole way and darting in front of Godeck to immediately intercept the ball.
From there, the Mustangs had an immediate three-on-one advantage, and Chingancheke passed to an oncoming Aidan Rohde who had a free shot inside the six-yard box. Rohde buried it past Westmont keeper Mans Ingvarson for the 1-0 lead.
“Zach made a really bad error and that was really the critical moment of the game,” Wolf said. “The most critical moment of the game came in the ninth minute, and that is just not the expectation we have for a player of that caliber. It was a brutal start to the game, and it was a grind from there.”
The Warriors did not post a shot on frame until the 27th minute, when Connor Lynch sent a ball in from 20 yards out that bounced into the arms of Mustang’s keeper Kian Bensend.
In the 30th minute, Ingvarson made a spectacular save to keep the deficit to one.
Off of a cross, the Master’s Corny Miller was even with the back of the six-yard box and headed a ball towards the inside of the left post. Then Ingvarson, who was positioned a shade towards his right post, rapidly shuffled to his right before diving and swatting the ball out of bounds with his right hand.
Fifteen minutes later, the score remained 1-0 at halftime in favor of The Master’s. The Warriors posted just two shots on goal during the half.
In the 59th minute, the Mustangs’ Theo Kudlo crossed a ball from the near side to the far end of the 18-yard box, finding Chingancheke wide open. Chingancheke collected the ball in stride and sent it to the back of the net for a 2-0 lead — and his first goal of the season.
For Chingancheke, the goal and assist he provided on Thorrington Field certainly felt extra special. On Aug. 23, 2019, during the Heritage Club Classic, Chingancheke suffered a broken leg against Embry-Riddle (Ariz.) on Thorrington Field, ending the striker’s freshman season in what was his collegiate debut. In his return to the same pitch, Chingancheke did nothing but stand tall.
In the 69th minute, Westmont cut the deficit to one when Wyatt Babineau fired a shot at the top of the eighteen that was blocked by The Master’s defense. The deflection fell right at the feet of Connor Lynch, who then chipped a pass to Aldo Becerril at the center of the six-yard box, And Becerril headed the ball to the back of the net to pull the Warriors within one.
For the next 15 minutes, the Warriors threatened with their most consistent attack of the afternoon, but the club was not able to turn the effort into a legitimate scoring opportunity.
Then, in the 84th minute, The Master’s Miller found himself open on the far side of the eighteen when the ball found him at an unfortunate time for the Warriors. Miller took a touch to set up his shot and then buried the dagger past a diving Ingvarson for a 3-1 advantage.
Six minutes later, the Mustangs officially handed the Warriors a 3-1 loss.
“We had some moments where we were on top of the game,” noted Wolf, “but there was little execution in the final third of the field. There was not enough personality from our team, and sometimes you can look at that and just say, ‘We’re a youthful team, it happens’. The fact of the matter, however, is that it’s our experienced players that are putting us in a bad spot right now.
“It’s a big ask to ask our younger players to dig ourselves out of hole that our experienced players are putting us in, and today it was too tall a task.”
The club returns to the pitch this coming Thursday when they host Arizona Christian on Thorrington Field. Kickoff is scheduled for 3:15 p.m. and tickets are available on the Westmont Athletics website.
Jacob Norling is the sports information assistant at Westmont College.
email: dmason@newspress.com
