Photo by samsphotoservices.com

Los Angeles, CA — The Occidental men's soccer team would start their SCIAC season in a home game on Patterson Field against the Caltech Beavers. 

The Tigers would come out firing and immediately put pressure on the Caltech defense when they received a free kick that was placed into the penalty box and kicked around a couple times before being secured by the Beaver goalie. 

Only about one minute of play went by before Oxy would have another free kick off of a Beaver foul in nearly the same spot on the field. Joey Schwartz would once again take the kick and this time he placed a ball perfectly to the right of the goalie's outstretched arms as he dove for the ball but could not get it and Oxy would quickly take a 1-0 lead in the game. 

Less than two minutes later the Tigers would score again, as Schwartz had another free kick opportunity. This time he struck the ball to teammate Marcus Chmielewski who placed his head in the perfect spot to redirect the ball into the net for the Tigers second goal in less than 7 minutes. 

Oxy would play a nearly perfect half as the kept the Beavers from getting much going offensively and even when they could get a shot on goal, goalie Riley Nyhan would be there for the save. Oxy would strike again for one more goal before the half closed, when Schwartz would take a corner kick and put it in a spot where Evan Karp could redirect the ball to a waiting Tyler Na-Nakornpanom who would score the goal to make it 3-0 Oxy before the half came to an end.

Oxy would come out with the same fire in the 2nd half and produce 6 shots in the first fifteen minutes of the half before depositing the seventh shot into the net for a fourth goal. The Tigers took a fast break opportunity into the left corner of the field before the ball was passed back out to Joey Schwartz who recorded another assist when he found Christian Corcoran who would get past a defender, collect the ball and use his left foot to fire the ball off into the goal. 

Less than a minute later Oxy would have a free kick opportunity just outside of the penalty area. New Tiger Oury Diane would continue his strong start to the season and place the free kick out of the goalie's reach as he dove to his left and the ball sailed by him into the goal for a fifth Tiger goal. 

Later in the 2nd half Andrew Notter would get in on the scoring action after a shot by Charlie Miller went off the crossbar. Notter was in the right place and scooped up the deflected ball and placed into the goal for a 6-0 Tiger lead. 

Shortly after Kai Fiedelholtz had a shot saved by the goalie the Tigers were awarded a penalty kick. Notter would take the kick and place it into the goal for his second goal of the game in only a span of 3 minutes of play. 

In the 85th minute of the game Oxy would score yet again as Tyler Na-Nakornpanom also would score his second goal of the game with an assist from Kai Fiedelholtz to put the final touch on a beautiful display of offense from the Tigers. 

Oxy would not allow the Beavers to get a shot off in the 2nd half on the way to securing an impressive 8-0 win over Caltech in the first SCIAC match of the season. Oxy will look to keep the offense rolling when the Whittier Poets come to town for a SCIAC match on Saturday, September 16th.