TMU soccer file photo

Brayden Campos is taking a crash course in goalkeeping.

Two full games into his new gig, the freshman keeper is settling in just fine.

Further proof of that came Saturday afternoon in Rocklin when Campos recorded four saves and posted his first career shutout in TMU’s 2-0 triumph over William Jessup.

“It was nice to bounce back and get a shutout,” said Mustang coach Jim Rickard. “Our effort and creativity were excellent today. Brayden settled in as the goalkeeper, and our team defense was still superb.”

The victory did more than just raise Campos’ confidence between the pipes. It got the Mustangs back in the win column after they had lost two matches in a row and four of the last five.

With one regular-season game remaining, the Mustangs – who are jockeying with Hope International for a No. 3 or No. 4 seed – are guaranteed a first-round home match in the GSAC Tournament on Nov. 4.

Campos received all the help he really needed 13 seconds into play Saturday when Trevor Mangan blasted one past Warrior goalie Robert Harmelink from 40 yards out. It was the junior’s sixth goal of the year.

The Mustangs had a couple of other chances to score during the first stanza, but a few shots went high and wide while Harmelink stopped attempts by Dylan Bielanski (28:25) and Benjamin Tembo (32:07).

At the other end, Campos kept Jessup off the board, with the Mustangs’ stingy backline limiting the Warriors’ chances. Campos only had to make one first-half save and that came off a header from Derek Vredenburgh in the 34th minute.

The Mustangs had a 9-3 shot advantage at halftime.

That margin grew in the second half when TMU outshot the Warriors 10-5. One of those found the back of the net in the 73rd minute off the foot of Benjamin Tembo, who snapped a four-match scoreless streak with his GSAC-leading 17th goal of the year.

The junior’s goal total ties him for the 12th-best single-season mark in program history (Ezequiel Bongarra -1993, Eric Johnson-1986).

The two goals were good enough for the win, but Rickard wasn’t completely satisfied.

“We still let a lot of quality chances slip away,” he said, “but we did enough to separate from them.”

Before and after Tembo’s score, the Mustang defense and Campos kept the Warriors off the scoreboard. Campos registered three saves over the final 45 minutes to finish with four.

Here’s the box score.

Now, the Mustangs have a week to prepare for that one remaining regular-season match next Saturday against Westmont on Reese Field.

A victory against the Warriors, which would avenge a 2-1 double-overtime loss from last Saturday, would give the club some much-needed momentum heading into that first-round, conference tournament game next month.