By Brandon Petersen
Saturday night at Great Park Championship Stadium, the Westcliff men's soccer team took care of business with a workmanlike 3-0 win over Benedictine Mesa in the first round of the Cal Pac Championship Tournament.
Although the Warriors had every right to celebrate the victory in full-throated fashion afterward, the mood was dampened a bit by a red card handed out to Silva Mosue, who — unless the Cal Pac intervenes — will miss the Warriors' second-round matchup against UC Merced.
According to the referees, Mosue fought back after Benedictine midfielder Carlos Barraza took him down at midfield.
Word traveled quickly to the sideline that Barraza may have used the N-Word toward Mosue, supposedly causing a reaction that drew the red card.
Both players were ejected, and as they retreated to their respective locker rooms, a verbal altercation between the teams broke out in the depths of the stadium, forcing a further delay in the action.
Eventually, cooler heads prevailed and the game wrapped without further incident.
"It feels amazing, we are relieved," Westcliff captain Janis Hinterleitner said. "We are relieved. We knew it was going to be tough because we met them in conference. But this was a completely different game, even a team that might be weaker is going to give us their all.
"So we're just happy we took this step, and now we focus on Thursday."
After a first half in which the Warriors' offense stalled, Hinterleitner broke a scoreless tie in the 5t0th minute when he sent a roller far post, left to right past Benedictine keeper Donato Gil.
"I saw that I had an open space, so I just went for it," Hinterleitner said. "I saw Silva in the center, I was just calling him to play me, because I knew I had the cross. I had a good feeling, so I just went for the shot and it worked out."
After the first half passed without a score, Westcliff's coaching staff changed offensive strategy. That was key, according to Hinterleitner.
"I think it was definitely the change in the system," he said. "We tried something new. We have two good strikers, so we just wanted to involve them more, but obviously (in the first half) it didn't work out.
"In the second half we wanted more width in the game, because we have fast wingers. In the end, it worked out pretty well. We were able to beat them on the outside, and that was the key."
Alessandro Lagona made it 2-0 in the 61st minute, and Marius Brondbo put it away in the 68th.
Westcliff outshot the Redhawks 24-7, and took a 6-1 advantage on corners.
Noah Schwengeler finished with a save for Westcliff.
Gil had five for Benedictine.
Afterward, the Warriors were happy to be back in the Cal Pac semifinals, but realized the officials made the task of beating UC Merced that much harder with a red on Mosue.
"First of all, it's a huge loss," Hinterleitner said. "Silva is one of our best players. He's always there when you need him. But, obviously, we have a lot of quality on the roster, so someone else has to step up. All in all, we will miss him for sure."
