Rain on the Lions’ Parade: Men’s Soccer Season Soon Comes to an End
After a grueling game that lasted almost an hour longer than the expected duration — stretched out due to overtime and a broken sprinkler showering Sullivan Field in the middle of the second half — the Lions faced a heartbreaking 2–1 loss against the Toreros of University of San Diego on Sunday, Nov. 4. Because both teams had two conference wins leading up to their match-up, only one would come out with the lead and eliminate the chance of their opponent’s post-season run.
The Lion crowd was hopeful as the men in crimson dominated the first ten minutes of the game; maintaining possession and hardly ever letting the Toreros cross the midfield line. The Toreros took over shortly after, but the Lions were able to hold them up until halftime, where the score remained 0–0. With San Diego’s six shots on goal at the half versus the Lions’ four, it was clear that the men of Loyola Marymount would have to battle for the victory.
At the start of the second half, stellar freshman (#18) C.J. Neville started the stream of events that led to (#25) Dylan Shockey’s goal at 49:52. Neville has been recognized as one of the many standout freshmen for Loyola Marymount, scoring two goals for his team this season; one of them being during the huge 1–0 conference win against Gonzaga on Oct. 14.
At the 63rd minute of this nail-biter, the sprinklers at the top-left end of the field were set off, drenching the crowd as well as the San Diego defenders. The game took a delay of over 15 minutes; an event that Neville believes threw off the momentum of the game.
“We were just coming off a goal and we were very close to a second,” he explained. “This delay gave [San Diego] a chance to regroup and organize. I think we lost focus for a split second.”
Neville’s hypothesis was proven when at 74:17, during a commotion in which the Lions claimed that the referee missed a clear handball against their opponents, (#9) Miguel Berry of San Diego scored with a hard shot to the right corner of the net. The score was then set at 1–1 and remained that way through the game’s 90 minutes. Less than three minutes into a sudden-death overtime, Berry scored his second goal — improving San Diego’s conference record and putting an end to the Lions’ post-conference hopes.
There is one game left in the season, and although it can’t change the fate of Loyola Marymount’s soccer season, Neville remains positive about their final test.
“Knowing the fact that we are already done with our season, we could easily just forget about the game and start focusing on the spring,” he says, “but we need to end the season with a win and start getting prepared for next season. I think we really have something special coming these next three years.” The Lions will face the University of San Francisco at Sullivan Field on Saturday, Nov. 10 at 7:00 PM.
