By Brandon Petersen

Soccer is a crazy sport.

Sometimes you earn a win, but walk away with a loss.

That was the tale of the tape for the Westcliff men's soccer team Saturday night at Dan Lebard Stadium at Orange Coast College, where the Warriors fell 1-0 to nationally-ranked OUAZ on a breakaway goal scored with seven seconds left. 

It was a shocking turn of fate for the visiting Spirit, who were staring down the barrel of their second straight underwhelming performance against a Cal Pac opponent before the last-breath goal flipped the script.

OUAZ exploded off its bench as if it had won the World Cup.

The in-your-face celebration was so complete, it was highlighted by OUAZ players streaking in front of the Westcliff bench and talking smack like they were headlining a UFC press conference. 

It was not the reaction of a team that expected to win and then did, it was the reaction of a team that was miraculously handed a gift from the heavens above. 

And that's exactly what happened. 

With just under two minutes to play, Westcliff captain, Justin Devlin, went down on a hard tackle attempt and stayed down. 

It's not an understatement to say Devlin is Westcliff's heart and soul, and the injury was so devastating it required an air cast for Devlin's right leg, and a small army of teammates to carry their leader from midfield to the training table.

The injury caused a long delay in action at the very end of a hard-fought contest that featured a number of mini-scrums between the Warriors and the Spirit. 

The flow of the game interrupted, and their captain injured, the Warriors played the last minute-thirty in a mental haze.

With 16 seconds left, a Westcliff defender was caught out of position and OUAZ charged with numbers, finding net on its one and only shot of the second half. 

"Obviously, we are frustrated to lose with just seconds left on the clock," Westcliff head coach Tom Lancaster said. "We played the game really well, but a loss of concentration at the end meant they got in."

After a back-and-forth first half in which both teams let a couple of golden opportunities slip, the Warriors dominated the second half. 

Westcliff had seven shots to OUAZ's one, three corner set-pieces to the Spirit's one, and controlled possession throughout. 

Max Simonis played his tail off and had a number of great balls, leading the team in shots-on-frame with two. 

The back row was the most impressive unit for the Warriors, a defensive effort highlighted by an MVP-type performance from keeper Noah Schwengeler (four saves), who had a couple of diving stops and thwarted every serious Spirit opportunity until his teammates left him alone on a island in the final seconds.

But, at Westcliff, you either win or you learn — you never lose. 

"It's better it happens now," Lancaster said. "We learn from it. Obviously, my main concern is the injury to Justin. That's kind of where our heads are at now. So, pray he makes a good recovery, and we hope he's doing all right."

Westcliff had a similar last-second debacle play out against Embry-Riddle a year ago, and it taught the squad that every minute of the 90 played on a college pitch must be treated with respect. 

Now, when the Warriors play bigger games, against more important opponents, the lesson of Saturday night should linger.

Hopefully the injury to Devlin does not. 

The Warriors travel to Menlo Monday for a 1:00 p.m. kickoff.