Belassen, Saglimbeni lead Chapman to 5-1 win over Leopards

ORANGE, Calif. – Four first-half goals and a tidal wave of offensive opportunities led to a lopsided 5-1 victory for the Chapman University men's soccer team over visiting University of La Verne on Monday night at Wilson Field. The Panthers scored fast and often equaling their season-high with five goals and improving to 3-1-1 at home this season.

Chapman (6-5-1 overall, 6-4-1 SCIAC) received a pair of goals within the first nine minutes from team-scoring leader sophomore M Marco Saglimbeni, giving the Panthers an early 2-0 lead. Saglimbeni's second goal came at 9' when he made a diving header off a cross from junior M Boston Kimmel on a fast break. It was the sophomore's fourth game-winning goal and third multi-goal game this season. He now has a team-high eight goals and 16 points.

The Panthers came right back in at 31' as junior M Gino Belassen scored on a tough angle shot from the right side and got a fortunate bounce off a Leopards defender to find the back of the net. Sophomore F Cole Peters added Chapman's fourth goal of the half just eight minutes later. La Verne GK Greg Veron came out to meet him on the attack and Peters made a move to get around him for a wide open shot at the goal and his third score of the season.

Chapman kept the offensive pressure on all night, out-shooting La Verne (8-6-1 overall, 5-6 SCIAC) 31-4 in the match.

Early in the second half, Belassen scored his second goal of the match at 49', dribbling through a group of defenders to knock it past Veron. With two goals and one assist in the match, Belassen moved to fourth on the team in total points this season with seven.

La Verne rallied for a goal by Lorenzo Leyva at 79' on a high shot that just hit the crossbar and angled back into the goal. Backup GK Darrin Bangle was credited with six saves in just 33-plus minutes in goal for the Leos in relief of Veron.

Chapman is 2-1-1 in its past four SCIAC matches and moved back into sole possession of third place in the conference standings with the win. The Panthers play four of their final six matches at Wilson Field, where they have lost just once this year. They will host Whittier College on Saturday at 1 p.m. in another critical SCIAC matchup.

by Doug Aiken
Sports Information Director

Boxscore: http://www.chapmanathletics.com/sports/msoc/2014-15/boxscores/20141013_89bl.xml

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