LA VERNE, Calif. — Harim Coronado opened the scoring the first half and Nathan Gonzalez sealed it in second as the University of La Verne men's soccer team beat Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, 2-0, on Wednesday night at Ortmayer Stadium.

How it happened: After a back-and-forth start to the game, the Leopards earned a free kick from about 30 yards out on the right side. Javier Jasso played a good ball into the box and Coronado got in front of a defender and put a header past CMS goalkeeper Alex Choi to get La Verne on the board.

Gonzalez's score was a brilliant individual effort. The speedy sophomore dribbled past two defenders and finished it off with a low driven shot into the net to give the Leopards a 2-0 lead.

The defense came up strong the rest of the way. The Stags' had the lion's share of the ball, outshooting La Verne 7-3 in the second half, but could not create a truly dangerous moment.

What shots CMS was able to get through, La Verne goalkeeper Greg Veron turned away.

One decent chance for CMS came in the 82^nd minute when Elijah Lichtenberg launched a bullet from the left side but Veron used his 6-foot-3 frame to snatch the ball from the air.

Players of the game: Nathan Gonzalez is cementing himself as one of the best forwards in the SCIAC. He now has seven goals on the season to go along with four assists and is tied for the league with 18 total points.

Veron is also coming into his own in the net. He is leads the SCIAC in save percentage at .824 and is third in goals allowed average at 1.00 in league play.

What it means: La Verne improves to 8-4-1 overall and 5-4-0 in SCIAC play. The Leopards are now tied for fourth place with Occidental and Redlands.

Up next: La Verne travels to No. 23 Pomona-Pitzer on Saturday for an 11 a.m. kickoff. The Leopards will look to avenge their 2-1 overtime loss to the Sagehens on Sept. 17.