LOS ANGELES – The California men’s soccer team outshot host LMU 8-3 in the second half of their nonconference clash Thursday night, but the Golden Bears came away with a 1-0 loss to the Lions at Sullivan Field.
Cal fell to 1-2-0, while LMU improved to 1-2-0.
The Lions had a 10-1 shot advantage in the first half, though they put just one shot on frame – a short-range shot from Mydas Smalls that Cal defender Giancarlo Mota saved off the goal line in the 22nd minute.
The game remained tied 0-0 at the break.
Josh Elash scored in the 76th minute off an Anthony Wilson assist for LMU. After the goal, the Bears produced a 4-0 shot advantage, including a Kieran Bracken Serra shot saved by goalkeeper Massimo Oedekoven Pomponi, another Bracken Serra shot that was blocked, a long-range Arseni Metelista shot that went wide and Nonso Adimabua’s blast in the final minute that went high.
But the Bears couldn’t muster an equalizer.
“I thought we had a decent start to the game, but halfway through the first half there was a bit of a lull,” Cal head coach Leonard Griffin said. “We weren’t applying enough pressure defensively and not applying enough pressure in terms of creating chances. We talked about that at halftime, and in the second half we had more energy and created a lot more going forward. We gave up the one chance they capitalized on, and that’s the game sometimes.”
Cal forced Oedekoven Pomponi to make four saves for the game, while the Bears’ Marco Brougher made one.
“The second half was definitely encouraging,” Griffin said. “We always want to learn from what we could’ve done better, and there were…
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