A rabid crowd of Cougar fans cheered an equally-energetic Cougar men's soccer team to victory in its home opener Saturday. CSUSM defeated Westmont 3-2 in what was a wild, spirited game.
The Cougars have now clawed their way back to 3-3 on the season. Westmont falls to 2-2.
The hundreds of fans in attendance were treated to a thrilling match between two talented and highly-motivated sides at Mangrum Field. Westmont struck first, when in the 18th minute Anthony Niboli found a loose ball in the box and drove it past Cougar keeper Kevin Ernst.
Westmont continued to apply the pressure, and would have went up 2-0 a few minutes later had Ernst not made a diving full-extension save.
With halftime fast approaching and it looking like the Cougars would go in down 1-0, lightning struck - twice. In the 42nd minute, recently-subbed in Casey Wootan sparked the offense with a beautiful pass through the defense to Bradley Seidenglanz. Seidenglanz beat the defense to the ball, and blasted a quick-shot that beat the keeper cleanly.
That tied the game at 1-1, but the Cougars were not done. Just 59 seconds later, Brandon Zuniga and Wootan electrified the crowd with a beautiful goal. Zuniga made a run to the corner with the ball, and fired a low cross to Wootan, who made a run to the near corner of the net and skillfully redirected the ball over the keeper and into the top of the net.
The sudden change from 0-1 to 2-1 in the span of a minute was one of the most exciting stretches in the history of Cougar soccer. But Westmont was not deterred, and equalized the game early in the second half on a corner kick in which it appeared Ernst was held back. Doug Harrell took advantage with a solid header into the net.
But CSUSM would have the last word, and catch a break of its own as Brandon Zuniga made a nice run, and was taken down right at the top of the box. A penalty kick was awarded, and redshirt freshman Martin Suarez easily tucked it away for his first Cougar goal. Twenty very tense minutes followed, but when the dust settled, the Cougar defense held and the team had a very well-earned 3-2 win.
The Cougars will look to carry the momentum into a tough game Tuesday at Point Loma.
