Magazine Spring 2024 Legacy a Westmont Soccer Story

By Jacob Norling ’20 Photos by Robbie Gawrys

When asked if his first year as head coach of the Westmont men’s soccer team went like he originally planned, Morgan Cathey laughed, smiled and said, “No.” The fifth head coach

in the program’s 58-year history navigated his club through its first season at the NCAA Division II level, unexpectedly winning a National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA) national title.

“If you had told me — and the guys — at the beginning of the season that we’d be playing in December and winning our final game, I don’t think a lot of us believed that could actually happen,” Cathey said. “But that was our dream.”

Before the season started, Cathey shared his expectations for the Warriors. “Things are going to look a little different, and we’re going to struggle,” he said. “But our fans and alums need not panic.”

Cathey’s cautions about growing pains for the team, which he announced publicly, failed to soften the blow when

 Westmont began the season winless in its first seven matches, with the Warriors being outscored 12-4.

Still, the relentlessly positive Cathey remained unfazed. Those first seven matches came before Westmont’s first PacWest game, scheduled for September 30. That date became ingrained in the brains of fans after the first-year coach repeatedly stressed that the club considered their pre-conference contests as training grounds for their introduction into PacWest play.

“The months leading up to September 30 featured an outpouring of support from our community established through some long

suffering,” Cathey said. “We labored for months to build on a foundation, knowing it could help us succeed once we entered PacWest play.

“We didn’t know that we wouldn’t win a game up until that point, but we could see pretty clearly what we were establishing. The community we have here at Westmont not only gave us the opportunity to succeed but the opportunity to thrive as well.”

On September 30, the Warriors won their first PacWest game — and their first NCAA victory — by defeating their rival Biola 4-0. As Cathey had predicted, the Warriors used this contest as a launching pad, winning six of their first seven PacWest contests. The team found the back of the net 23 times in those seven games.

Cathey laughed looking back at the stark difference between his club’s scoring in its first seven PacWest games, versus its four goals in the first seven matches of the season. “To be completely honest, we only began working on our attack in the final third of the first six-plus weeks of our time together.

“We were so focused on building our attack from the back forward, that our strikers were probably a bit bored with training at some points. But we knew that once our team learned to build our foundation from the back up, the sky was the limit.”

In PacWest play, Westmont finished the season with a 7-2-1 record, putting the Warriors alone in second place with 22 points. Westmont outscored PacWest opponents 27-11 during its conference slate.

“You have to have young men who believe in what’s to come,” Cathey said. “And they have to be able to apply the lessons they learn in adversity. You can only do that if you have great character.”

At the season’s end, the club knew it was ineligible for the PacWest Tournament — or any national-level tournament in the NCAA — in its first year as members of an NCAA team. But during this transition year, it could compete in the National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA) national tournament, and it turned its attention to this goal.

After winning an NCCAA West Regional at home, the Warriors packed their bags for Kissimmee, Florida, to chase the program’s first national championship since the 1972 men’s soccer team won Westmont’s first-ever National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) title.

Westmont’s run at the NCCAA National Championships began in grand style, when Leonel Olivo Ortiz scored 19 seconds into an eventual 3-1 win over Asbury, setting the stage for a special week ahead.

“From that moment, our guys took care of every possible outcome in front of them,” Cathey said. “Every single time our guys were tested, they seized the opportunity. The ability to apply what we had learned at any moment marked this team throughout the season.”

After the club defeated Asbury, Wayland Baptist and Central Christian to earn a place in the NCCAA national championship game, Westmont’s season culminated on December 2 in a game against the Campbellsville Tigers. The Warriors came out with a mission that night, and a pair of goals from captain Daniel Tuscano and a third from Connor Lynch gave the Warriors a 3-1 win.

When the final whistle blew, the team celebrated like it was 1972, winning its second national championship in program history. Tuscano was named the NCCAA National Tournament Most Valuable Player.

“Our word for the year was ‘legacy,’” Cathey said. “There was no greater motivation than leaving the jersey in a better place than we found it. What our program represents, not only to us but to the generations that have gone before us, is a tireless pursuit of excellence.

“What our guys wanted, more than anything else, was to make our community proud and leave a foundation that will motivate the next group, like so many teams have done for us.

“This championship is for everyone who ever wore a Westmont jersey and for the community at large.”

Westmont’s legacy continues to build upon our storied past while blazing a new trail in our present.