AZUSA, Calif. – Although the statistics indicated one thing, the scoreboard told a different story.
California Baptist scored once in each half to post a 2-0 win against the Cougars on Thursday evening. For the Lancers it is just their second win in their last 10 trips to the Cougar Soccer Complex. Despite outshooting the Lancers by a 12-8 margin and holding a 7-3 edge in corner kicks, Azusa Pacific wasn't quite able to get on the scoreboard despite a handful of opportunities.
California Baptist improves to 5-6-1 and 4-3 in PacWest games while the Cougars fall to 3-5-2 and 3-2-1 respectively.
"Their offense can play in a variety of ways and tonight they did a good job of pressuring our defense. In general I was pleased with how we played defensively but they were able to break through enough to get the win," said head coach Dave Blomquist. "We are getting better every day and we are going to continue to try and reach our potential until the final game of the season."
In the fifth minute the visitors nearly took an early lead but Aiden Apodaca's attempt hit the cross bar.
The Lancer got on the scoreboard in the 31st minute when James Bogdanovich played a free kick from 25 yards out into the box and was knocked around and past Cougar goal keeper Tyler Jaramillo. The goal against Azusa Pacific ended a streak of 340-plus minutes without allowing a goal.
Azusa Pacific nearly tied the score in the closing moments of the first half but Daniel Stratton shot from at the top of the box hit off the left cross bar.
"You know a lot of things tonight would be different if it wasn't for an inch here or there. If his shot glances into the net inside of out-of-bounds the game result could have been different. And that's the beauty of this game," Blomquist said.
The visitors put some breathing room between them and the Cougars in the 83rd minute. Daniel Westholm took a feed from Daniel Moss off the left side to give the Lancers a 2-0 edge.
Tim Ogunniyi had two great shots on goal for Azusa Pacific but Lancer goal keeper Noah Oyler made the save each time. Those were the last two of five saves Oyler had to make to secure the shutout victory.
Azusa Pacific heads to PacWest leader Fresno Pacific on Saturday evening.
