By Madison Rubino
La Verne Athletics Communication
LA VERNE, Calif. — The University of La Verne's men's soccer dominated possession but couldn't do much with it in a 3-0 loss to Pomona Pitzer Wednesday night at Ortmayer Stadium.
La Verne's overall record falls to 7-3-1 and 5-3-1 in conference. Pomona-Pitzer improves to 6-5-0 and 5-4-0.
The Leopards outshot the Sagehens, 18-8, but were inefficient. La Verne only put three of its 18 shots on target while Pomona-Pitzer made the most with their opportunities, putting all eight of their shots on frame.
La Verne conceded the opener in the 27th minute on an own goal as a low, hard cross by Pomona-Pitzer's Chase Abelson was deflected into the net off the foot of Ferdinand Estrada. The dagger really came with a corner kick to the far post by Bjorn Sigurdsson, which was headed in by Shanti Dubey in the 67th minute. The Sagehens locked in the win with another goal shot low to the far post by Voja Maric off a counterattack in the 86th minute.
La Verne's Justin Funes was hungry for a goal, leading the team with five shot attempts and creating two of the best offensive possessions of the night.
Funes drive a perfect curler to the upper right corner in the 16th minute but Pomona-Pitzer's goalie Ben Mitchell responded with a leaping stretch to save the shot.
Funes faced another opportunity to score with a give and go with Briley Venti in the 15th minute, but Funes shot it right at the goalie.
Justin Almandinger and Nathan Gonzalez followed Funes with four shot attempts each.
The Leopards return to action Saturday at home against Occidental at 7 p.m.