THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. — Harim Coronado opened his La Verne account, Nathan Gonzalez stayed on fire and the University of La Verne men's soccer team beat Cal Lutheran, 2-1, on Monday night at Rolland Stadium.

How it happened: After an evenly played, back-and-forth first half, La Verne drew the first blood in the 49^th minute. Gonzalez put a pass into the box to Coronado on an overlap play and Coronado laced a shot past CLU goalkeeper Jack Duncan to put the Leopards up on the board first.

Then the Leopards momentarily lost focus. Shortly after the reset, CLU's Zack Larson found a pocket of space in La Verne defense and tucked away his fourth goal of the season on an assist from Gui Borini to tie the score at 1-1.

Both sides played tighter after the equalizer, but Gonzalez came through with an answer in the 75^thminute. After a scramble for the ball in front of the CLU goal, Javier Jasso came up with the ball, tapped it to Gonzalez and Gonzalez finished it off into the top left corner for the game winner.

Larson almost had his second equalizer in the 86^th minute but his shot hit the post.

The Kingsmen were denied by the frame in the first half as well when a Logan Cone shot beat La Verne goalie Greg Veron but hit the crossbar.

Player of the game: Nathan Gonzalez continued his hot streak. In his past three games, the Corona native has recorded 10 points with four goals and two assists.

Through Monday's games, Gonzalez is tied for first in the SCIAC in goals scored (6) and assists (4). He leads the league in total points with 16.

Getting physical: Both teams played with a lot of physicality, which resulted in two yellow cards apiece. Raymundo Alcaraz andMario Interiano got booked on La Verne's side while Tal Zalet and Tyler Pascoe was shown the cards for the Kingsmen.

From head coach Trevor Persson: "Very much improved from our losing streak. I'm really proud of the way the guys stepped up and executed when we needed it."

What it means: After losing four straight matches, La Verne (6-4-1, 3-4-0 SCIAC) has gotten back on track with two straight wins.

Cal Lutheran drops to 3-5-2 and 2-4-1 in SCIAC play.

Up next: The Leopards will host Whittier on Saturday at 1 p.m.