by BRANDON PETERSEN
The Westcliff men's soccer team remained unbeaten in its California Pacific Conference pod Tuesday morning with a 3-0 blanking of Saint Katherine.
The league is broken up into pods. The winners of those pods at season's end automatically qualify for the postseason.
All other playoff entrants will be at-large berths voted on by humans, which is why securing that first-place finish is so crucial for the Warriors.
Tuesday in Carlsbad, Nikita Pyatetskiy broke open the scoreless tie in the 16th minute off a help from Karam Idris.
Idris then made it 2-0 in the 61st minute off an assist from Jason McCormick.
Quentin Hornung scored in the 80th minute to put the game out of reach.
Francesco Zanin recorded his fifth clean sheet of the season on two saves.
Westcliff dominated possession once again, outshooting Saint Katherine, 21-5.
A Friday showdown with Embry-Riddle in Prescott, AZ is next up on the docket for Westcliff (8-2-2, 3-0-1). The last contest between the teams ended in controversy with the Eagles forcing overtime on a goal that video replay revealed was scored after the final buzzer sounded.
The Warriors have not lost a contest since, winning all five games by a combined score of 30-4.
Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
To contact Brandon Petersen, e-mail brandonpetersen@westcliff.edu.
