Zags Falter Late against San Diego
11/1/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
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SPOKANE, Wash.—The Gonzaga University men's soccer team shut down the Torero offense for more than an hour Friday, but the Toreros scored twice in the second half to down the Zags 2-0 at Luger Field in Spokane, Wash.
"We've been playing good defense all along, but obviously when we give up two goals, it's not good enough," said Gonzaga men's soccer head coach Einar Thorarinsson. "Our downfall today was that we gave the ball away with bad passes. The guys played with energy, played with heart; bad passes can just cost you."
The Zags held San Diego, the highest-scoring team in the West Coast Conference, to just five shots in the first half, and none of those was on frame. The four members of the Zags' back line—Ben White, David Sigurdsson, Jalen Crisler, and Thomas O'Brien continued their strong play as of late, closing down on San Diego attackers and blocking off passing lanes. Those four played all 90 minutes against the Toreros.
While the back line of the Gonzaga defense did their parts to keep the game scoreless in the first half, Gonzaga keeper Chris Lowrimore was effective at coming off his line to deflect dangerous USD crosses before they became anything further. He made one save on the day, that coming in the second half.
After clearing a couple of early Torero corners, the Zags took over on offense, controlling the pace of the game and working their way into scoring chances. In the 12th minute, Lars Ludwigs took the match's first shot, an attempt from range aimed towards the left portion of the goal. USD keeper Thomas Olsen picked the shot out of the air to keep the game level. The match entered halftime with neither team finding the net despite five attempts from San Diego and six from Gonzaga.
The Zags tallied the first shot in the second half as well, as Graison Le sent in a dangerous free kick in the 58th minute. The ball was just a bit high and landed on the top of the net for a Torero goal kick. Two minutes later, Sigurdsson took a look from off a free kick, but the same result occurred and the ball sailed high and out of bounds.
San Diego broke the deadlock at 64:28 when Connor O'Neill, after dribbling around a couple Zag defenders, hit Torrey DeArmas with a pass in the box. DeArmas found a bit of open space and took a shot to the far post for the game's first goal. The visitors doubled their lead at the 76:56 mark when Kyle Macleod unleashed a scorcher from 18 yards out.
"Chris was good in goal and he couldn't have done anything about those two goals," said Thorarinsson. "We moved the ball well, we created some good chances. We'll just keep going against LMU."
A new face was among those in the starting lineup as redshirt sophomore Dustin Ferger made his first career start Friday. The Spokane native played 37 effective minutes in the midfield.
Gonzaga (3-11-0, 1-2-0 WCC) will close the weekend on Sunday, Nov. 2, by hosting Loyola Marymount. The tilt between the Bulldogs and the Lions will begin at 12:00 p.m., again on Luger Field.
