La Verne, CA - The University of La Verne closed out the second day of the Gary Troyer Tournament with a pair of games against Mt. Saint Mary's and Long Island University.
The opening game of the day for the Leopards pitted them against Mt. Saint Mary's. Scoring only two goals in the opening period of play, La Verne found themselves battling uphill to close the gap in the game against the Mountaineers. Scoring five goals in the first half, the Leopards nearly doubled that amount in the second half of play, scoring eight goals (six in the third period) to close the game, but the Leopards would fall to Mt. Saint Mary's by a score of 24-13.
The second game of the day saw the Leopards engage in battle with the Sharks from Long Island University. A seesaw of a contest, the Leopards and Sharks would trade points throughout the first half of action. The Leopards trailed by one point at the end of the first quarter 4-3, but would score five goals in the second quarter, to tie the game at 8 apiece at halftime. Each team scored three goals in the third quarter of play, leaving the game deadlocked at eleven as the fourth quarter of play began.
La Verne secured a two-point lead with 1:28 left when Tristan Tippet scored a goal for the Leopards giving them a 15-13 lead. Long Island would score one more goal, but time would expire as LA Verne finished as the victors, defeating LIU by a final score of 15-14. Five Leopards would score in the contest (Tristan Tippett (5), Gage Unsoeld (4), Peter Trinh (3), Alam Chang (2), James Cano ) giving La Verne a well-balanced attack. Allen Soto-Lopez had four saves for La Verne.
The Leopards will take on Claremont-M-S on the road Wednesday, October 5th at 7:00 PM.