SAN FRANCISCO – The USF men's soccer team suffered a 2-0 loss to the Loyola Marymount Lions in the regular season finale at Negoesco Stadium on Saturday night. The loss ends the Dons' 2015 campaign with an overall record of 6-11-1 and a WCC mark of 4-2-1.
"I was disappointed mostly in the way we started the game," commented head coach
Eddie Soto. "We tried to change things up. I don't want to use it as an excuse, but we had so many guys hurt that we had fewer options. We were asking guys to do things they don't usually do."
The Lions (9-9-0, 4-3-0) got on the board first when Cruz Corral took a pass from the right wing and had a one-on-one chance from about 10 yards out that he booted past USF keeper
Andre Glasnovic to put LMU up 1-0 in the 28th minute.
Then in the 42nd minute, LMU's John Bovill slipped open and received a pass on the lower left wing of the penalty box that he punched into the far right post to give the Lions a 2-0 advantage heading into halftime.
LMU held a 6-2 advantage in shots during the first half.
The Dons had a couple of good looks in the first half but were unable to get many clean shots off.
USF applied more pressure midway through the second half, however, as
Kevin Gould delivered a rocket from just beyond the 18-yard mark that was swatted away by diving LMU keeper Paul Blanchette.
On the ensuing corner kick,
Hunter Ashworth's header sailed just high of the net.
The Dons added to their offensive chances in the 86th minute when
Davi Ramos sent in a cross from the left wing, but
David Garrett's diving header went wide left.
USF outshot LMU 7-2 in the second half - with most of those tries coming over the final 20 minutes - and held a 9-8 edge in shots overall.
"It all goes back to our first 45," said Soto. "Our lack of experience really hurt us tonight. That was the difference. At the end of the day it's a young group that has to learn how to win. Next year we should feel more comfortable in a big game situation like this because we've been through it."
Coming into the night tied with Santa Clara for second place in the WCC standings, the Dons needed a win over LMU and a San Diego loss to Santa Clara in order to share the WCC championship with USD and SCU. Instead, Santa Clara shutout San Diego 3-0 on Saturday night, meaning SCU and USD share the conference title.
