Regular season ends on a sour note for Chapman

ORANGE, Calif. – The regular season came to a close for the Chapman University men's soccer team with a 3-1 defeat against visiting La Sierra University on Sunday night at Wilson Field. The Panthers will await word from the NCAA Championships committee on Nov. 7 as to whether their 11-4-3 record is good enough to earn a Pool C (at-large) berth into the postseason tournament.

La Sierra (11-5-1) scored a pair of first-half goals just six minutes apart to take a 2-0 lead before halftime. David Nolan (33rd minute) and Luis Escamilla (39th minute) both capitalized on loose ball rebounds to score goals for the Golden Eagles and stake them to a lead.

The Panthers got on the board in the in the 78th minute when freshman D Mikey Stoddard found a loose ball in front of the net and scored his first career goal to cut Chapman's deficit to one.

Chapman applied more offensive pressure in the second half, forcing Golden Eagles' GK Peter Martinez to make all five of his saves in the final 45 minutes, but the Panthers were unable to draw even.

For good measure, La Sierra added some insurance with just 1:25 remaining when Escamilla scored for the second time in the game on a long assist from D Cole King who played the ball off the Eagles' own goal kick.

The loss was just the second for Chapman on its home turf this season (6-2-1) and spoiled 'Senior Night' for five graduating seniors from the program: GK Jimmy Adranly, M Chris Duran, M Brett Richardson, GK Pedro Velasquez and D Ari Jogiel.

by Doug Aiken
Sports Information Director

Boxscore: http://www.chapmanathletics.com/sports/msoc/2011-12/boxscores/20111030_jmw5.xml

Become a fan of Chapman Athletics on Facebook
Follow Chapman Athletics on Twitter @ChapmanSports