Photo by samsphotoservices.com

Los Angeles, CA — The Occidental College men's soccer team was at home on Saturday night for their Homecoming matchup with the University of La Verne Leopards. 

The Tigers got off to a good start much like they have all season. Only about 8 and half minutes into the game, Adrian Paredes took the ball around midfield and placed a pass perfectly for Kai Fiedelholtz to take in stride and fire a shot past the La Verne goalkeeper for the first goal of the game.

With a 1-0 lead, the Tigers were playing good defense and putting together good passes to get shots on goal, but the La Verne keeper was able to make saves and keep the Leopards in the game. 

With about 19 minutes left in the 1st half, the Tigers made a rare mistake on defense as an Oxy defender attempted to clear a pass by a Leopard and inadvertently kicked in a Tigers own goal that allowed La Verne to tie the game at one. 

Oxy would be able to shake off the mistake by getting back to the strong defense they have played all season and enter halftime with a 1-1 tie. The strong defense carried into nearly the first 20 minutes of the second half until a La Verne offensive player placed a pass to his teammate who headed past the Oxy defense for a goal. 

Despite Oxy being able to create good looks at the goal for the remainder of the half, the game would end with the 2-1 score.

Next Game: The Tigers will look to bounce back against Chapman University in Orange, CA on Wednesday October 26th in a huge SCIAC matchup between the top two teams in the conference.