Box Score
PORTLAND, Ore. --- The Portland Pilots created several opportunities in the second half, but the Loyola Marymount Lions were able to escape with a 3-2 victory in a West Coast Conference men’s soccer match at Merlo Field on Sunday afternoon. LMU scored twice after the break for the come-from-behind win.
The Pilots (5-6-1, 0-4-0 WCC) led 2-1 at halftime, but LMU (3-9-0, 1-3-0 WCC) responded with the equalizer in the 57th minute. On a long ball sent forward from the back, LMU’s Dylan Seedman was able to work his way through a UP defender before sending in a cross from the left wing. Fernando Barba then buried a shot into the left corner of the net, tying the score at 2-2.
Seven minutes later, it was a goal from Seedman that gave LMU a 3-2 advantage. Seedman was able to finish into an open net after Phil da Silva had drawn Portland goalkeeper Justin Baarts off his line.
The Pilots nearly equalized a handful of times during the game’s final 25 minutes, but the Lions would hold on for their first conference win. In the 74th minute, Connor Barbaree hit the post with a shot, which then bounced right into the arms of LMU’s Max Young. Young replaced starter Jack McCormack in the LMU net at halftime.
Ricardo Carrillo forced Young to make a save in the 82nd minute, Ben Hemphill pushed a header wide in the 83rd minute, and Carrillo sent a shot high in the 88th minute off of a brilliant feed from Steven Evans.
The Pilots scored the first goal of the afternoon when Derek Boggs headed in a free kick from Connor Barbaree in the 15th minute. Barbaree sent in the free kick from just outside the right side of the box to about six yards in front of the LMU frame. That’s where Boggs calmly headed in his second goal of the season, giving Portland an early 1-nil advantage.
The lead was short-lived as da Silva scored only three minutes later. Tyler Krumpe sent in a low cross from the endline, which da Silva easily finished.
Barbaree then gave the lead back to the Pilots by converting a penalty kick in the 42nd minute.
UP out-shot LMU 16-13 and had eight corner kicks to LMU’s three. Baarts had four saves, while each LMU keeper finished with two.
The Pilots next head back on the road for a pair of WCC games. On Wednesday, Portland will be in Spokane, Wash., for a 3 p.m. match against Gonzaga. Then on Sunday, Saint Mary’s will host the Pilots for a 2 p.m. tilt in Moraga, Calif.
