THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. — Saul Uribe equalized with a beautiful diving header in the 79th minute, but the University of La Verne men's soccer team could not sustain the momentum and gave up the winner with less than five minutes left in a 2-1 loss to Cal Lutheran on Saturday afternoon at Rolland Stadium.
La Verne falls to 7-2-1 overall and 5-2-1 in the SCIAC. Cal Lutheran improves to 5-5-0 and 4-4-0.
Uribe's goal was as good as a header gets. After a high clearance, Auden Foxe got the ball on the right side and whipped a cross to the far post toward the onrushing Uribe. The ball looked to have too much pace, but Uribe dove and drove the header across the goal into the right corner to tie the game at 1-1.
With the momentum on their side, the Leopards continued to test Cal Lutheran's defense, but a counterattack ended up costing them. Kearney curled a shot to the right post and Ramirez did get his hand on the ball but didn't get enough of it and it rolled into the net for the winner.
The Kingsmen got off to a quick start, getting off a shot, earning a corner kick and forcing La Verne to commit three fouls in the game's first 10 minutes. And they broke through in the 15th minute when Brandon Kearney beat La Verne goalkeeper Josh Ramirez to left corner to give Cal Lutheran a 1-0 lead.
The Leopards had a handful of quality chances throughout the game but could not convert other than Uribe's equalizer. La Verne outshot Cal Lutheran, 13-10.
Uribe and Justin Almandinger each had three attempts.
The Leopards are back in action on Wednesday at home against Pomona-Pitzer.
