COSTA MESA, Calif. - The Vanguard University Men's Soccer team (2-0) would take on the Providence Christian Sea Beggars (1-2) on Wednesday afternoon for their season debut on their home pitch. The final score of 1-0 in favor of the Lions would belie a mostly one-sided affair as the Pride would hold a 22-5 advantage in shots and a 4-2 advantage in corner kicks.
What Happened? In the eighteenth minute, Jesse Gonzalez would cut off a Sea Beggar clearance and would send the ball to the left side of the box to Marc Trejo. A Maradona by Trejo would freeze his defender allowing him to slide into the left side of the eighteen yard-box where he spotted Andrew Robles streaking to the penalty spot. Trejo's cross was punched on the fly by Robles and the ball sailed past the keeper's outstretched arms into the back of the net for the first and only score of the game. The Lions would record a 22-5 advantage in shots and a 4-2 advantage in corner kicks.
Why It's Important? The Lions last faced off against the Sea Beggars back in 2018 where they earned a 7-0 victory. In that game, Sebastian Cortez scored four goals, putting him at second all-time in most goals scored in a single game; as a team, the seven goals would tie for fourth all-time for the most goals in a single game in Vanguard's MSOC history.
Top Performers: Andrew Robles earned his second goal and Marc Trejo recorded his second assist of the year in the eighteenth minute for the Blue and Gold. Alex Penaloza would save all three shots that were on frame to record his second shutout of the campaign so far.
What They Said: "Our strategy today was to have a high press line and make them make mistakes and jump on their mistakes," said Robles. Our back line played really really well which opened up a lot of options on our attack. Really our back line only let them shoot 3 times the whole game so shoutout to our back line and the guys in the middle putting in work."
What's Next: Thursday, February 25th the Lions will head up to Santa Barbara to take on Westmont College at 3:15 p.m.
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