October 8, 2023
Warriors Get Past the Lions with a Narrow Win, 1-0
By Francisco Claudio
The Westcliff men's soccer team earned an important win over the Soka University Lions on Saturday evening, with a final score of 1-0.
Every win is important for the Warriors at this point of the season in order to secure first place in the Cal Pac Conference standings.
Even though it wasn't the best performance for the Warriors, they found a way to get on the scoreboard and keep the lead over the Lions.
The only goal of the game came late into the first half in the 43rd minute when Martin Slatsve got the fortunate bounce and was able to get it past the Lions' goalkeeper.
No.7 John Adekunle was awarded with the assist.
Slatsve would have another golden opportunity in the second half to put the Warriors up by two, but the ball would go just slightly over the crossbar.
Soka played with one less player after two yellow cards were given to their player but they did not back down at any point.
The Warriors had a hard time taking advantage of having one more player as the second half became a tense battle with very little separation between both teams.
Westcliff had three shots on goal for the match which was three more than the Lions.
As the final whistle was blown the Warriors added this important win to their updated overall record of 12-1 and a conference record of 8-1.
Westcliff is holding down the No.1 seed with a game-and-half cushion over the second-place Embry-Riddle.
If the Warriors play their cards right and finish the season strong there is a very strong chance of the No.1 seed going to them.
There are only three games left of the season and their opponents are Providence Christian, Benedictine Mesa, and UAV.