Photo by Shira Oneal-Abend

Story by Joe Perrino

LA VERNE, CA – The La Verne men's soccer looked to pick up their third win nearing the midpoint of the 2021 season Saturday night against Occidental, but a pair of first-half goals led the Tigers to a 2-1 lead.

The Leopards looked to take control of the momentum early. A minute-and-a-half into the contest, senior James Coe and junior Owen Osagiede found themselves in a two-on-one situation nearing Scott Drazan standing at the Tigers' goal. Coe poked a perfect pass to Osagiede who was all alone and beat Drazan, placing his shot past his reach and into the bottom left corner of the net for Osagiede's third goal of the season. 

That 1-0 lead with 88:30 left in the game poised the Leos for a strong offensive night and their second conference victory. The offensive outburst would end there, however. 

La Verne didn't have another shot attempt until 35:08, and from there couldn't fire one off until the 80th minute. The Leopards finished the match with four shots on goal, two from Osagiede, one from Coe, and one from junior Rodrigo Martinez.

The Tigers evened the game in the 19th minute when Evan Karp sent a pass to Joey Schwartz who sent the ball to the back of the net. Adrian Paredes scored the difference-maker with less than three minutes left in the opening half.

While the defense let up two goals in the first half, it held its ground for the duration of the second half, allowing the Tigers to only get two shots off on goal. Kevan Rehmani did all he could in between the pipes grabbing seven saves in the game.

La Verne moves to 2-6-1 overall and 1-4 in the SCIAC. The Tigers improve to 4-7 overall and 2-4 in the conference.

The Leos will look to bounce back and pick up their third win of the season next Wednesday, Oct. 6 at Cal Lutheran.