SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – Dominican men's soccer overcame a two goal deficit but ultimately fell 4-3 on a late goal by Westmont on Saturday afternoon at Thorrington Field.

The Warriors (10-4-4, 7-3-1 PacWest) rode a strong first half showing to victory finishing with a 19-15 shots advantage with a 10-6 advantage on shots on goal. The Penguins (7-9-1, 4-7-0 PacWest) battled back with a much better showing in the second half with a 10-8 shots advantage including two of their three goals.

Westmont took an early lead as a foul in the box earned a penalty kick and Landon Amaral stepped to the spot and beat the keeper for the 1-0 lead in the 13th minute. Things settled in a bit but Srekan Durna worked his way into the attacking third down the middle of the field and played a perfect through ball to Connor Lynch who shot it off the top crossbar and down past the goal line to extend the lead to 2-0 in the 21st minute. 

Four minutes later, Dominican maintained some possession in its attacking third as Nico Flores surveyed his options from the top of the box before pushing the ball wide to a charging Armando Jimenez who took the shot from two yards above the box as it deflected off a defender's foot and into the left netting to cut the deficit to 2-1. Bernier got in the action seconds later as he took a ball near the top left corner, took a touch to his right before sending a curling shot towards the bottom left corner of the net, but Brady Highfill was able to get his fingertips on the ball to steer it wide. In the 28th minute, Lynch took another go at the net but Reyes was able to punch it away, unfortunately the ball went right to the head of Olivo Ortiz who headed it back and into the netting for the 3-1 lead where it remained at the break.

Three minutes into the half, Abraham Garcia gathered a ball and ran right down the center into the attacking third before loosing a shot far post from the top of the box, the shot bounced off the post but right back to Diego Grande who buried the rebound to cut the Warrior lead to one goal once again. The game stepped up in its physicality from there with a multitude of fouls and yellow cards for both teams. Dominican had a good opportunity in the 68th minute as a shot by Chris Mendez-Lemus was blocked but back to Diego Grande who sent the ball towards the net but rattled off the left post before being knocked out of play for a corner kick. 

The Penguins maintained momentum and in the 80th minute Anthony Stainer used a good dummy move to get past the defense down the left side of the field before sending a perfect cross into the middle of the box and finding the head of Thomas Van Schoor who nodded it deftly into the center of the net for the 3-3 tie. Dominican continued to push as Stainer put a shot on goal that was gathered by Mario Floriano but things took a quick turn in the 86th minute as Westmont began to gather some momentum of their own. The Warriors took advantage as Lynch chipped a perfect ball over the top and Serkan Durna beat the keeper to the ball popping it towards the goal line before leaving no doubt with a strong shot into the back netting for the 4-3 lead and they held the Penguins without a shot down the stretch to preserve the victory.