BAKERSFIELD, Calif.—No. 19/20 Loyola Marymount defeated CSU Bakersfield 3-2 Friday night in the men's soccer home opener for the Roadrunners.

LMU took a 1-0 lead in the 14th minute when Alvaro Madrigal converted a free kick. The Lions got on the board again the 39th minute when James Tanaka took a pair of touch passes from Maurice Morton and John Bovill.

“The two goals that they scored were good goals,” said CSUB head coach Richie Grant. “They went through the middle of us.”

Simon Doherty broke the seal for the Roadrunners 40 seconds into the second half when he took a pass from Daniel Drier and converted his attempt from eight yards out.  The goal was the first LMU had given up since Nov. 9, 2014, a span of nearly 540 minutes.

“Coming out of the dressing room was excellent,” Grant said. “We scored in 40 seconds and we looked good and comfortable.

Miles Chow's first goal of the year at 74:06 proved to be the insurance goal that the Lions needed as Christian Duarte converted on a penalty kick attempt with 3:06 to play.  Julian Zamora nearly tied the match with two to play, but Paul Blanchette turned away the attempt.

“I thought we were going to get the second goal,” Grant said. “The third LMU goal was a heartbreaker. But we fought to get back in the game.”

The teams played in front of a crowd of 819, the second largest season opening crowd for the Roadrunners at the Division I level. CSUB opened the 2014 season in front of 1,183 fans.

CSU Bakersfield travels to CSUN Sunday night for a 6 p.m. matchup. Roadrunner head man Richie Grant will be going for his 200th career victory as a collegiate head coach against the Matadors (199-154-30).

“We are starting to play good football,” said Grant. “We are coming together and so we have another tough one Sunday night, but our goal was to be right when we get to October.”

CSUB returns home Oct. 4 when CSUB hosts Pacific at 4 p.m. Tickets are available at Vallitix.com.

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