SAN MARCOS, Calif. – The Cal State San Marcos men's soccer team earned the banner victory it had been looking for during its short time in NCAA Division II competition, knocking off cross-county rival No. 21 UC San Diego, 1-0, in California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) play on Wednesday afternoon in The Cage.
CSUSM, which hadn't beat a ranked NCAA Division II opponent in its 11-year history, handed the nationally-ranked Tritons – who hadn't allowed a goal in the past four matches – their first loss of the season. The Cougars are in their second season of NCAA DII and CCAA competition.
The Cougars improve to 2-2-0 overall and 1-0-0 in CCAA play. UCSD drops to 5-1-1, 0-1-0 CCAA. CSUSM secured its first victory over UCSD since 2007.
"UCSD is a terrific team and well coached. But, our guys were fantastic today. I thought our back four were rigid, structured and strong in the air," said CSUSM head coach
Ron Pulvers. "The goal came at an opportunistic time and we just hung on. It's a great result and I'm really proud of the guys."
As strong as the defensive line was in its typical line of duty, it was equally as crucial to the game-winning goal.
With an hour gone, left-center back
Robbie Dirks floated a long throw-in to the front of the six.
Andrew Stalboerger flicked it high towards the middle, where
Zach Olow was able to get a head to it. Olow pounded it down into a defender's torso, and the ball sputtered directly into the path of Stalboerger. The right-center back ripped it past a helpless Cameran McElfresh from eight yards to put the Cougars in the lead for good.
The back line came up big once again with moments remaining in the game, as UCSD pushed numbers forward for the equalizer.
Justice Duerksen snuck a left-footed shot from a sharp angle under the hand of CSUSM goalkeeper
Justin Tesar, but Dirks was in the right place at the right time and cleared the ball off the line.
CSUSM looked strong at the outset with two quick opportunities. The squad combined to free Olow at the top of the box in the fourth minute, but his left-footed rocket went straight into the arms of McElfresh. A couple minutes later,
JJ Castillo attempted to curl one inside the back-post, but it barely missed the woodwork.
Tesar made six saves on the afternoon, a career high for the redshirt freshman.
The Cougars continue CCAA play against Chico State on Friday afternoon at 3 p.m. in The Cage.
