SANTA BARBARA, Calif. –
Nathan Freitas curled a free kick over the wall and underneath the crossbar in the 88th minute Saturday afternoon as Dominican men's soccer rallied for a 2-2 draw with Westmont in its PacWest opener at Thorrington Field.
Dominican moved to 1-3-4 overall and 0-0-1 in conference play. Westmont finished with a 15-12 edge in total shots, but the Penguins put six attempts on goal compared with three for the Warriors and held a 6-4 advantage in corner kicks.
The Penguins produced their first dangerous sequence midway through the opening half. Dominican worked its way into the box before the ball was poked between defenders and
Griffin Brophy charged onto it in front of goal. Westmont goalkeeper Aidan Strickler dove to stop Brophy's attempt at the goal line, but the rebound spilled to
Anthony Stainer with the goalkeeper out of position. Stainer fired toward the open net, only for a recovering defender to leap and get his head to the shot, redirecting it off the crossbar and away.
Dominican broke through in the 38th minute. Stainer attempted to dribble through several defenders before a sliding challenge knocked the ball forward to
Jake Kazlauskas. The junior slowed his run to collect it, took a couple of touches to his right and fired from near the top of the box, catching Strickler flat-footed to give the Penguins a 1-0 lead. It was Kazlauskas' team-leading fourth goal of the season after entering the match atop Dominican's scoring chart with three goals and seven points.
The Penguins nearly doubled the advantage early in the second half. An attack down the right side produced a cross toward goal that Strickler could only deflect, leaving
Norman Tellez with a close-range opportunity. Tellez reacted quickly to the loose ball, but could not get his shot over the recovering goalkeeper, who made the save in the 50th minute. Westmont answered 40 seconds later. Cooper Mathews carried the ball forward into space and struck from distance, beating
Colin Nestor at the near post to level the match at 1-1 in the 51st minute.
The Warriors then took the lead just over three minutes later. Micah Maljian had a pair of shots seconds apart, the first attempt was blocked by a Dominican defender as the rebound bounced back in front of him. His second effort got through Nestor's hands and stayed in play before bouncing inside the back post for a 2-1 advantage.
Dominican continued pressing for the equalizer and created five corner kicks in the second half. Stainer forced Strickler into another save in the 85th minute before Westmont's Logan Race was shown a red card at 84:31, giving the Penguins a man advantage for the closing stretch. The breakthrough came after Westmont committed a foul just outside the penalty area with a little more than two minutes remaining. Freitas stepped over the free kick and struck a right-footed shot over the wall, with the ball dipping sharply beneath the crossbar and into the net at 87:49 to tie the match at 2-2. It was his second goal of the season. Dominican nearly found a winner in the final seconds, generating two more attempts before time expired, but the match ended level.
The Penguins return home Wednesday, Oct. 7, to host Biola at 3:30 p.m. at Kennelly Field.
