SAN MARCOS, Calif. – Reduced to ten men for the final 17:28, the Cal State San Marcos men's soccer team held steadfast for a 2-1 victory over La Sierra on Thursday afternoon at the CSUSM Multipurpose Field.

Sullivan Tobin broke a 1-1 tie in the 68^th minute with his fourth goal in his last five games, but CSUSM would be forced to sweat the rest of the game out. Minutes after CSUSM took the lead, senior captain Eric Lopez was issued a straight red card for using a high elbow to attempt to gain position on a defender while receiving a pass with his back toward goal.

The Cougars took off a striker and packed it in the rest of the way to preserve their lead, receiving a game-saving, point-blank block from Landon Sherwood on Edgar Padilla's open look with 90 seconds left. Sherwood had eight saves in the match.

The Cougars have won five of their last six matches and improve to 9-3 with four regular-season contests remaining. La Sierra drops to 4-7 overall.

"I thought we played pretty well. The first half we were terrific, I think we should have been up a couple," said CSUSM head coach Ron Pulvers. "The red card kind of put us in a bad spot, but it feels great to get a result. To get to 9-3, we're pretty pleased."

CSUSM was on the front foot from the get-go. 20 seconds in, Angel Mora cracked a shot off the crossbar before trying cheeky chip that barely missed the top corner. Louie Farfan had his low free kick pushed away by La Sierra goalkeeper Jaime Valencia and Tobin had a shot cleared off the line.

The Cougars finally went ahead in the 23^rd. Mora played a free kick to the top of the six and Thor English beat his defender to it, pounding it into the top of the net while leaving no chance for the goalkeeper.

For Mora, it was his ninth assist of the season and eighth in his last six contests. He's also contributed at least one assist in six straight matches.

12 minutes later, Kenny Bonanken evened the match by one-timing a chip inside the left post from the right side of the box.

Diego Fontes nearly put the Cougars back in the lead before the break, but his left-footed rocket off a dead ball from 30 yards was caught with a dive from Valencia. Valencia made eight saves in the first half.

The game winner came from the foot of Tobin. Right-back Evan Myers played it inside to Lopez, who played Tobin in behind. Tobin kept his defender on his shoulder before firing a low shot inside the left post.

CSUSM outshot the Golden Eagles, 19-13, and won the corner kick battle, 9-6.

The Cougars have the weekend off, but will return to play next Saturday, October 18 against Bethesda. Kick off is set for 3:30 p.m. at the CSUSM Multipurpose Field.