By Don Gilmore, TMU Assistant Sports Editor

Luis Garcia Sosa (pictured above) scored a goal in each half and Leo Anjos added another to help The Master’s University christen the 2018 season with a 3-1 victory over Northwest Christian of Washington Friday morning in Atherton.

“In the first half, we lacked proper timing and willingness to combine with each other,” said TMU head coach Jim Rickard. “In the second half, our timing was much crisper and we were rewarded with several quality chances.”

Garcia Sosa, an All-GSAC performer last year, is known more for his precise passes that set up teammates for scoring chances.

On Friday morning the junior midfielder was the one taking passes from teammates and lighting up the scoreboard.

Just 7:07 into the match, Garcia Sosa took a feed from Trevor Mangan and beat Beacon keeper Julian Hernandez for a 1-0 lead.

That slightest of leads lasted all of 28 seconds as Beacon Ian Hernandez put one past new Mustang goalie Matheus Taraszkiewicz to even the match.

It stayed 1-all until Garcia Sosa struck again, this time at the 7:03 mark of the second half when he took a pass from Dylan Bielanski and put it past Hernandez for what proved to be the winning tally.

The Mustangs made sure of that with a stellar defense that allowed only four total shots, two of those on goal. Taraszkiewicz notched just one save in his Mustang debut between the pipes.

Senior midfielder Leo Anjos iced the victory, scoring on a perfectly placed free kick with 4:15 left to play.

The Mustangs conclude their quick trip to the San Francisco Peninsula Saturday when they face off against Southern Oregon in a 2:30 p.m. start.

“SOU is going to be a real challenge tomorrow for us,” Rickard said. “But it’s a great opportunity to play high-level competition.”

Here’s Friday’s box score.