Go WEST young man (and NORTH)

[Kuiper]

Early afternoon SCIAC opening day games:

CMS 3 - UC Santa Cruz 2

UCSC was up 2-1 in the 59th minute, but CMS rallied late with goals in the 78th and 88th minutes to snatch an away win.  I said CMS was going to need someone to step up to help replace Laidlaw's goals from last season.  I thought it would be James Gomez, but it turns out it was Sean Lee, who scored a brace (although Gomez had an assist on his first goal).  He scored 4 goals last season, so it wasn't unanticipated, but I didn't expect him to be halfway to last year's goal total after the first game.  Daniel Zhu scored the game winner and he only played 200 minutes all last season, so that's a bonus for the Stags.

Caltech 9 - Bethesda 0

Bethesda is a weak NAIA team, but I didn't expect Caltech to hang 9 goals on them (or anyone), especially the year after all-time leading scorers Etienne Casanova and Ishaan Madripragada graduated.  Matthew Luk, however, put in a shift.  3 goals and 3 assists (at least that's what the scoring summary says, although the Box score has him at 2 assists).  Either way, that's impressive, especially with all three goals in the first half. Piotr Zawislan also had a hat trick and an assist, and Dean Yao had a goal and an assist. 

[Kuiper]

Trinity 1 - Texas Lutheran 0 (20th minute)

6'7" Ethan Cowdrey gets the Tigers on the board early in a scramble in the box off a free kick.  He hasn't gotten much action in his time at Trinity, but graduations finally open up the CB spot.  Transfer grad student Gustav Moberg gets credit for an assist and he already looks to be an influential addition for Trinity from D2 Flagler College.

UPDATE:  Trinity 1 - Texas Lutheran 1 (26th minute)

TLU comes up with a goal of their own on a free kick from near midfield that gets flicked on to goal.  Game on!

UPDATE:  Trinity 2 - Texas Lutheran 1 (35th minute)

Eloy Ferrer scores on a late run into the box on a ball nicely passed from the endline by Eduardo Parra.  First touch in college for Ferrer is a goal!

UPDATE:  Trinity 3 - Texas Lutheran 1 (37th minute)

Kenyon transfer (and LA native) Gabriel Romanenko scores on a rebound after the GK blocks an initial chance and the goals are coming quickly now.

UPDATE:  Trinity 4 - Texas Lutheran 1 (38th minute)

Freshman F Samer Dimassi scores to clean up another ball lofted into the box.  He now has a goal and an assist in 10 minutes.  I would say Trinity has found some new goal scorers!

HALF:  Trinity 4 - Texas Lutheran 1

That escalated quickly.  Trinity has so many weapons and they are going hard for everything.  TLU is wondering what happened to their 1-1 tie 20 minutes ago.

FINAL:  Trinity 4 - Texas Lutheran 1

Trinity emptied its bench and took its foot off the gas in the second half, but the first half showed it has some pieces that will help it keep its form this year, although it may have to come from a variety of places this year rather than relying upon 1-2 players to carry it when times are tough.  The one player missing from this game was Luke Mayfield.  Don't know if he has a long-term injury, but he would make them even better than they showed today,

[Kuiper]

Evening SCIAC games

Occidental 2 - Azusa Pacific 0

Oxy survived playing virtually the entire second half playing down a man because of a second yellow to a defender who caught a player on a breakaway.  It was up 1-0 at the time and even managed to double their lead on a flukey long goal kick that bounced over the APU defenders into the pathway of an Oxy player, who centered it to an open runner in the box.  Still, it wasn't a particularly convincing performance for Oxy against a team that lost many players in the transition from D2 to D3 and was playing its first game in the SCIAC.  Elijah Edelman looks strong, but he's going to need some help or defenses are going to key on him and force Oxy to find other options.

Redlands 1 - Whittier 1

Whittier scored a late equalizer in the 84th minute to salvage a tie at home.  I think Whittier is stronger than the SCIAC preseason poll suggests and they were playing at home, but Redlands lost an opportunity here.  The two teams will meet again in conference play with more at stake.

La Verne 2 - Westmont 2

Westmont is a decent D2 program, so this is a noteworthy result for La Verne.  Nevertheless, Westmont seemed to treat it as more of a preseason match, so I wouldn't read too much into it.  They played much more of their bench players, including giving minutes to three goalkeepers despite being down a goal early in the second half.

Pomona-Pitzer 5 - Nelson 0

I don't know much about Nelson.  They are an NCCAA team, which usually means a level or two below D3. Last year, they beat Bethesda 4-3, the same team that lost to Caltech today 9-0.  So, I don't want to make too much of this result for Pomona-Pitzer.  Nevertheless, P-P took a 1-0 lead into half and exploded for 4 goals in the 2nd half, showing they at least know where the net is located.  Aidan McLennan and Ryo Kasai each had a brace and P-P got to empty the bench.

[Kuiper]

Other Region X games that caught my eye:

Mary Hardin-Baylor 4 - Concordia (TX) 0

That was a bit surprising.  UMHB went into half with a 2-0 lead and then exploded for two more in a less than two minute stretch in the second half.

Southwestern 3 - McMurry 0

Not surprising goal difference, but it's pretty unusual to see a team score PKs in minute 2:40 and minute 2:47 of the first half.  What the heck happened that led to two PKs in a 7 second period at the very beginning of the game, especially where there were no yellow or red cards preceding those PKs?  Technically, the foul was in minute 1:03 and then the PK was taken in 2:40 and another PK foul was called and scored in 2:47, so I suspect the second PK resulted from the first PK itself, with the foul occurring either during the kick or immediately prior.  I need to go back and watch the tape.

[BTXCru18]

2 goalkeeping errors directly lead to the first 2 goals, then the starter was subbed at halftime. UMHB a little lucky to take the lead, but sealed the victory in second half with 2 quality goals in transition moments. Young roster adjusted well and weren't broken down too much by Concordia.

Other Region X games that caught my eye:

Mary Hardin-Baylor 4 - Concordia (TX) 0

That was a bit surprising.  UMHB went into half with a 2-0 lead and then exploded for two more in a less than two minute stretch in the second half.

[Kuiper]

Southwestern 3 - McMurry 0

Not surprising goal difference, but it's pretty unusual to see a team score PKs in minute 2:40 and minute 2:47 of the first half.  What the heck happened that led to two PKs in a 7 second period at the very beginning of the game, especially where there were no yellow or red cards preceding those PKs?  Technically, the foul was in minute 1:03 and then the PK was taken in 2:40 and another PK foul was called and scored in 2:47, so I suspect the second PK resulted from the first PK itself, with the foul occurring either during the kick or immediately prior.  I need to go back and watch the tape.

I went back and watched the tape (one of Flo's few advantages is pretty easy replay, which isn't always available when the school does it on their own).  Southwestern got the first PK on a handball in the box off a free kick and then, on the ensuing kickoff, McMurry was trying to play it out of the back and Southwestern stole an errant pass and a McMurry defender took down the Southwestern player advancing into the box.  There were some extracurricular activities after the first PK and about 4 really poor and dangerous slide tackles in a sequence that led to the first free kick, but nothing that would otherwise merit a yellow.  It was just the odd sequence where a team got two penalties seconds apart in the 3rd minute of the game!

[Kuiper]

In the D3 to D1 report, Devin Bening, who played two years for Occidental and was the SCIAC Offensive Player of the Year in 2025, has been getting consistent minutes off the bench this season for Cal Poly San Luis Obisbo and just scored his first D1 goal - a header in the 86th minute to earn a tie against San Diego State

https://gopoly.com/news/2026/8/30/mens-soccer-mustangs-finish-in-1-1-sunday-draw-with-san-diego-state

On the season, Bening now has a goal and an assist.