ATHERTON, Calif. – The Corban University Men's Soccer team was unable to locate the back of the net this evening on the first of two contests in California this weekend, as the Warriors fell 2-0 to the host Menlo College Oaks at Wunderlich Field.
"Today was good for our guys to be tested by such a strong team," Warriors' head coach Corbin Bowers shared earlier this evening. "Obviously it isn't the result we wanted at the end of the match, but this will help us learn and grow as a new group. We will cut out the early mistakes and look to bounce back with a force in the matches to come."
The Warriors struggled to find open looks and opportunities the entire match, and allowing their second-straight goal under one minute into the start of a contest doesn't help alleviate any of the pressure. Just forty-five seconds into the game, Oaks' midfielder Axel Valle found a bobbled ball in the penalty box following a corner kick opportunity, which he slipped into the bottom left corner of the net to have Corban playing the catchup game the remainder of the first half.
Not only unable to find the back of the net were the Warriors in the opening half, but unable to secure even a decent look as well, which resulted in zero first half shots by Corban. Menlo kept possession a large majority of the opening half, establishing eleven shots against the Warrior' defense.
Just one minute into the second half, the Oaks forced a free kick opportunity deep in Corban territory, where midfielder Levin Ledergerber curved his shot up and over the wall of defenders to perfectly place the ball in the upper right-hand corner of the net and give his team a 2-0 advantage.
While the Corban offense still struggled to maintain possession and find opportunities on the offensive end, they did unleash a quartet of shots in the second half, two of which came on goal on back-to-back opportunities and nearly pulled the Warriors to within a goal after the scramble in the box was handled by Menlo.
Redshirt senior Nate Sherwood and redshirt sophomore Bryan Nicolas were the only navy and gold cladded student-athletes today to record shots on goal, with two more shots coming from senior Gian Gargurevich and redshirt sophomore Irwin Leon. Freshman goalkeeper Miguel Trujillo hauled in two saves and allowed two goals in his first start of the young season.
Corban men's soccer will look to regroup tomorrow before their final game south of the Oregon border this weekend on Sunday morning, where Pacific Union College (0-1-0) will host the Warriors at 11am.
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