LA VERNE, Calif. — The goals came fast and furious.
Humberto Irra opened the scoring with a powerful header in the 57th minute, Justin Almandinger launched a rocket into the upper left corner in the 68th, Nathan Gonzalez converted his second penalty kick in as many games in the 69th and the University of La Verne men's soccer team defeated Pomona-Pitzer, 3-1, on Monday night at Ortmayer Stadium.
Pomona-Pitzer and its goalkeeper Ben Mitchell came into the game on a 243-minute scoreless streak, but Irra broke it with authority. The junior defender soared above his marker on a corner kick by Saul Uribe and planted a header towards bottom right to unlock the Sagehens' defense.
The Leopards kept up the pressure after the opening goal and put the Sagehens on its heels. Alfredo Garcia switched the play from the left side with a long pass to Uribe on the right and Uribe played a good ball towards Almandinger, who was making a run towards the goal. Almandinger took a few dribbles and unleashed a bomb that had no shot at being stopped, doubling La Verne's advantage.
Almost immediately after the ensuing kickoff, Gonzalez received a ball in the penalty box and was brought down by a Pomona-Pitzer defender to earn a spot kick for the second game in a row. Gonzalez stepped up to take the shot once again and went lower left to seal the game for La Verne.
The Sagehens pulled one back on a literal last-second shot. A throw-in from the side was not cleared by La Verne and Scout Pepper, who was playing his first game of the season for the Sagehens, found the loose ball and hit the back of the net with just one second left in the game.
With Occidental tying Chapman on the same night, the Leopards move into a first-place tie with the Tigers at 5-2-0 record in SCIAC play (8-2-0 overall). Pomona-Pitzer falls to 3-5-2 overall and 3-3-1 in the SCIAC.
Aside from the last-second goal, La Verne's defense was solid once again and just narrowly missed out on second clean sheet in a row. The Sagehens never got a clear look at the goal and did not put a shot on target until Pepper's goal.
La Verne returns to action on Wednesday at Caltech. Kickoff is at 4 p.m.
