LA VERNE, Calif. — The University of La Verne men's soccer team defeated Caltech, 2-0, on Saturday night at Ortmayer Stadium to earn its first berth to the SCIAC Postseason Tournament since 2008.
As soon as the final horn sounded, the players showered head coach Trevor Persson with a Gatorade bath.
"It feels really good," La Verne head coach Trevor Persson said. "We've been preparing for this moment since August and we are pretty fortunate to get it done with two games left. It's a little overwhelming, but we are very excited."
Justin Almandinger provided the game winner in the 12th minute on an assist by Saul Uribe and Nathan Gonzalez notched the insurance marker in the 55th minute with a penalty kick. Gonzalez is now 4-for-4 on the year with penalty kicks.
The Leopards improve to 9-4-1 in the SCIAC (13-4-1 overall) and move to second place in the standings with two games left to go.
The Leopards still have a plenty to play for. If La Verne wins its final two games and Redlands drops its last two, the Leopards will be crowned a co-SCIAC Champion, which would be the program's first since 1988.
Persson think that will be more than enough to keep his players motivated going into the next two games. "There is no better incentive than winning the SCIAC and if that doesn't motivate them, there's only so much I can do," Persson said. "But we'll talk about being a part of history and starting a tradition here."
The Leopards comfortably controlled the run of play. La Verne outshot the Beavers, 15-7, and narrowly missed on a handful of chances to pad the lead.
Gonzalez was as active as usual, getting off four shots. Alfredo Garcia had three shots and Humberto Irra and Stephan Friedland had two attempts apiece.
The Leopards return to action on Wednesday against Whittier in the final scheduled home game of the season and wrap up the regular season at Redlands on Oct. 31.
"We are going to use these last two games to prepare for the postseason," Persson said. "We want to get some guys some quality minutes so that everybody's fit and ready to go."
The first round of the SCIAC Postseason Tournament takes place on Nov. 4.
