What was supposed to be a celebration of the Cougar seniors turned out to a flat-out celebration, as the CSUSM men's soccer team smashed San Diego Christian 5-1 on Wednesday.
The win improves the Cougars to 7-5 on the season, continuing what has been an impressive rebound since the team's 1-3 start. San Diego Christian falls to 3-9.
Though the final score reflects the Cougars' dominance on the day, the game was still tense through the first half. San Diego Christian scored the first goal of the contest, as Emmanuel Onywera knocked one in from close range in the 22nd minute.
But the Cougars would quickly respond, as sophomore Jordan Shadeed blasted a free kick from about 20 yards out cleanly into the back of the net, making it 1-1.
While the scoreboard was even after the first half, it would quickly become lopsided in the second.
Playing for the team's 8 seniors, 7 of whom were on the very first Cal State San Marcos men's soccer team back in 2006, the Cougars put together an unforgettable effort in the second half. It started just two minutes into the second half with a freshman, Martin Suarez, banging home a shot from point blank range off a pass from Bradley Seidenglanz. Then came senior Chris Wyatt, tallying his first goal of the year with an athletic kick from equally close range, assisted by fellow senior Troy Skomra. Just 3 minutes later, Shadeed struck again, burying a rebound to make it 4-1. And finally, right before the seniors were called off Mangrum Field one last time, Miguel Jacobo earned and capitalized on a penalty kick for his first goal of the season.
To have the resiliency to recover from a 1-3 start against a brutal schedule and be playing as well as CSUSM is now, a team has to have strong senior leadership - and this year's Cougars have it in spades. There's Wyatt, a captain who has started every game in the program's four-year history. Skomra, whose long throw-ins are essentially set pieces, anchors the back line along with Curtis Marcikic, the converted forward who now stops goals instead of scoring them. In the midfield, Jacobo has been a thorn in the side of opposing teams virtually every time he's stepped on the field. There's Jose Rivas, who started every game in 2006 and 2007 and continues to be valuable off the bench, and Hyo Heinz, who came here as a junior and started in his very first game. And there are the Zuniga brothers, Brandon and Brent, one offense and one defense who both worked their way from very limited playing time early on into key roles on the team the last two seasons.
These players have set the tone of the team this season, and the team has responded with a level of toughness and perseverence that Coach Ron Pulvers has to be proud of.
The Cougars have two games left in the season as they make a push to the post-season, with their next contest at La Sierra on Sunday.
