SOCCER (M)

10/6/09 - Mustangs Score Early, Hold Back Royals

Fullerton, CA- The Master’s College needed less than five minutes to score what proved to be the game winner against the Royals in 4-0 affair on Tuesday.  Freshman Matt Howard, though he had no stats to prove it, played the best for the Royals all afternoon long.

The game turned out to be the tale of two halves as the Royals (5-4-3, 0-3-1 GSAC) were out shot 7-2 in the first half yet equaled the number of shots (8) taken by the Mustangs (9-1-1, 4-0 GSAC) in the second half.

The first shot of the game turned out to be the shot that matter most as Joel Peluffo ran on to a ball behind the Royals’ defense and hit a shot far post before Goalkeeper Matt Fike could close him down.

Six minutes later, a long throw into the box found Jacob Marchesani who controlled it and then found the back of the net to give the Mustangs a 2-0 lead.  The lead went to 3-0 four minutes before the half.

The Royals best chance in the first half came in the 20th minute when Sophomore Franky Atonya found himself on a semi breakaway and tried to take a quick touch shot past Mustangs’ Goalkeeper Kevin Lawson.  But Lawson was up to the challenge by using his legs to deflect the shot away.

When the whistle blew for the second half to start it appeared the Royals were finally ready to play and make some noise.  Though the Mustangs fired off the first two shots of the half, they were in transition as the Royals were applying the pressure.

In the 53rd minute, Junior Anthony Magana hit a shot that beat Lawson but was cleared off the line by a TMC defender.

A Royal corner kick and two shots by Freshman Edgar Bran kept up the pressure but to no avail.

TMC added their fourth goal soon after that as Marchesani drilled passed a ball across the goal mouth that deflected off a Royals defender and into the net.

Much to the Royals credit, they did not give up and kept up the pressure and matched the #22 Mustangs shot for shot the remainder of the game but just came up empty.

Sophomore Danilo Pereira had the best look for the Royals as he fired off a shot that forced Lawson to push the ball wide of the goal.

Lawson finished with 4 saves for the Mustangs while Fike end up with 3 saves for the Royals.

The Royals will now have a few days to prepare for Point Loma Nazarene who come town on Saturday for a 2:30 pm kickoff.

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