By Brandon Petersen
Felix Kogler and his teammates put on a show Wednesday night at the Great Park, where the Westcliff men's soccer team shutdown Life Pacific, 5-0.
Kogler dawned the fedora with a flashy hatty, and took part in both of Westcliff's other two goals, collecting a pair of assists to cherry the sundae.
"I think today we can be very happy with our performance," Kogler said. "We used our chances, we scored a lot of goals. It took a little while to get going but as the game went on, we got better and better."
Westcliff got off an incredible 44 shots to Life Pacific's five, dominating possession on a fast track in 100-degree weather.
Kogler netted three of his shots on goal, while Max Juha Simonis netted his lone shot on frame, and Jordan Di Lonardo netted one of three on frame.
Justin Devlin (three assists), Jonas Jansen and Jason McCormick all had a pair of shots on frame.
Devlin just missed a goal on a set-piece from the corner, pushing it left, but made up for it later when he booted a picturesque cross that Kogler netted for his final goal.
"It was good, it was nice to get our first win, it was great to see so many people here supporting the program," head coach Tom Lancaster said. "We shared the workload today, it was a team effort, obviously Felix scored a lot of goals, but there were a number of fine crosses, so it was a team win."
Neal Draves and Noah Schwengeler split time in net, with Draves covering the first half. Both keepers collected a save, but it was rather uneventful on the defensive end, as Life Pacific took no corner set-pieces all evening, meanwhile the Warriors racked up 17.
Simonis and Emir Basar recorded assists.
The Warriors will now gear up for a huge match against nationally-ranked OUAZ.
The Spirit will hit the Orange Coast College pitch on Saturday ranked No. 10 in America.
Westcliff (1-1) had a huge crowd for opening night, but this contest should draw even more spectators as the Warriors have a chance at a huge upset.
The match will be Westcliff's first at Orange Coast College Stadium in Costa Mesa.
The venue is huge and there is plenty of seating, so get there early for the 7 p.m. kickoff and claim the best seats in the house.
