A window of play just over five minutes long in the second half decided the fate of The Master's University men's soccer team on Saturday.
It was a window that ended the Mustangs' season.
Third-seeded and 25
th-ranked Vanguard scored three times in a 5:25 span and went on to beat the Mustangs 4-1 in a GSAC Tournament quarterfinal match in Costa Mesa.
"Losing a lot of our scoring from last season put a lot of pressure on Dylan (Bielanski) and Luis (Garcia Sosa)," said Mustang head coach
Jim Rickard. "So, our offensive creativity was lacking. In addition, our lack of depth caught up with us."
The Mustangs finished the 2019 season 8-8-2.
The clubs had fought to a 1-1 tie at halftime and through the first five-plus minutes of the second stanza.
At the 50:46 mark, though, Vanguard's Joey Barry beat TMU goalie
Price Anderson to unlock the tie.
That started a domino effect as the Lions scored twice more, in the 56
th (55:01) and 57
th (56:11)) minutes to turn a competitive match into a loss for the Mustangs.
The Mustangs had just one less shot on goal (9-8).
The lone Mustang shot to make it into the net came off the foot of senior
Justin Ikeora, whose second goal of the season tied the match at 1-1 in the 40th minute.
Fellow senior Garcia Sosa assisted on the goal. It was his sixth assist of the season.
