While students return to the campus of Westmont College in Santa Barbara, Calif., on Dec. 1, members of the Warriors men's soccer team will have just departed for the NAIA Championships in Fresno, Calif.
Westmont's remarkable postseason continued Saturday when the Warriors beat Holy Names, 3-2, in overtime before 2,000 fans at UC Santa Barbara's Harder Stadium.
The victory came 10 days after a wild fire destroyed the home of Westmont coach Dave Wolf and the school's soccer/baseball facility and closed down the campus.
Andrew Schneider scored the winning goal in the 105th minute when he scored on a rebound after Anthony Niboli hit the post.
"The week's just been crazy. It really feels like our world has been turned upside-down," Schneider told presidiosports.com. "All of our commitments have been taken away except for soccer, so it's at least given us something to focus on."
Four days after the Tea Fire, the Warriors won the Golden State Athletic Conference championship with a 2-0 win at defending national champion Azusa Pacific.
In addition to the baseball/soccer facility, two school buildings, 14 faculty housing residences and the dorm rooms of 50 students were destroyed. One Westmont soccer player lost the home he was renting, another had his dorm room consumed by fire and a third player's dorm room suffered extensive water damage.
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