by BRANDON PETERSEN
Westcliff soccer superfan, Dan O'Keefe, sat alone along the sideline at UC Merced's Bobcat Field Wednesday afternoon in the first round the California Pacific Conference Championships, where the Warriors made history with a 4-2 win over La Sierra.
Anyone familiar with Westcliff soccer is familiar with O'Keefe as well, his is the booming voice – the soundtrack of Westcliff Soccer – that screams, "Go White! Go White! Go White!"
O'Keefe had a message for his fellow Warrior fans shortly after Karam Idris made it 1-0 in the 21st minute when Cesar Ortega found him menacing in the box for a booming finish.
"I drove to Merced," O'Keefe said. "Now, where is everyone else?"
O'Keefe played the role of one-man band as the Warriors unfurled a glorious party on the pitch.
Becoming the first Westcliff team to compete in the playoffs wasn't good enough, the Warriors would not to be denied the first postseason win in program history either.
Felix Kogler sent in a set-piece winner from about 30 yards out in the 37th minute, and Max Juha Simonis found Marius Brondbo streaking through the box in the 41st minute to make it 3-0 before the break.
"The first half was good, then the game got very flat," Westcliff head coach Tom Lancaster said. "We were hoping to get through the game being able to rest bodies, but then we got hit with a double-whammy, which was a bit of a scare."
After John Adekunle made it 4-0 on a juking one-on-one finish set up by Geert Bijl early in the second half, the Warriors stopped pressing the issue and got sloppy, allowing a pair of La Sierra scores in the span of a minute and a half.
At the time, Quentin Hornung, Idris, Jakob Schnitzler and others were resting up on the sideline, keeping legs fresh and tournament-ready.
The double-dip by La Sierra forced Lancaster to put his starters back in the match to seal it.
"Fair play to La Sierra," Lancaster said. "The action they showed trying to come back in the game made it a good game in the second half.
"Good lesson for us, but a good performance too, I mean, we won 4-2."
The Warriors (13-3-2, 6-1-1) now move on to face Marymount California in the second round.
Marymount (12-5-1, 7-1), the No. 2 seed, watched the Warriors beat La Sierra from the stands Wednesday afternoon.
The Warriors and Mariners did not meet in the regular season.
Westcliff (72) and Marymount (62) finished first and second in Cal Pac goals scored.
"We've watched them a bit on the video," Lancaster said. "Their record is good. It should be a good game."
After the win, the Warriors jogged across the field to greet Uncle Dan, who gave a pep talk that – naturally – the whole stadium could hear.
"You're not finished," he told them.
The semifinals kick off Thursday at 5 p.m.
To contact Brandon Petersen, e-mail brandonpetersen@westcliff.edu.
