Tritons Triumph, Win CCAA

    The Tritons’ women’s soccer team walked all over Cal Poly Pomona on Friday night 3-1, then came home to defeat Point Loma Nazarene 1-0 in a real squeaker on Saturday.

    Leo Der Stepanians/
    Guardian

    The Cal Poly game was to decide the California Collegiate Athletic Association championship. Both teams were already assured of meeting in the first round of the playoffs, and this game was for bragging rights.

    With a win, Cal Poly could claim a share of the CCAA championships. With a Triton loss, UCSD could be in jeopardy of losing its No. 1 ranking in the upcoming CCAA tournament.

    UCSD came into the game firing on all cylinders with no intention of letting Pomona share its title, and within 50 seconds of the whistle blowing, the Tritons already had a 1-0 lead over the Broncos.

    Leo Der Stepanians/
    Guardian

    UCSD’s Laura Dooly scored the first goal off a corner kick from teammate Julia Cuder.

    A scant two minutes later, UCSD increased its lead to 2-0 on a beautiful 22-yard kick from Cuder.

    At this point in time the Tritons, up 2-0, and only three minutes into the match, hit a bit of a slow spot, at least offensively.

    For the next 40 minutes of the game, UCSD and the Broncos traded stabs and jabs into each other’s territories to no avail.

    However, at the 42-minute mark, Cal Poly finally got on the board with a goal by Michelle McConnel.

    UCSD, like the fifth-ranked team it is, did not let the goal affect it, and 10 minutes later Cindy Dostalek scored on an assist from Cuder to extend the lead back to two, going up 3-1, to cap scoring for the rest of the game.

    “”The game against Cal Poly was 100 miles per hour the whole game,”” said head coach Brian McManus.

    Cuder had a great game for the Tritons and was involved in all three Triton scores with two assists and one goal.

    Pomona’s loss dropped its record to 14-4 overall and 10-4 in league play. The win for UCSD bumped its record to 14-2 overall and 12-2 in league play.

    The Broncos and the Tritons will meet again on Nov. 2 in the semifinal round of the four-team tournament to decide the CCAA championship.

    The Tritons returned home on Saturday to face the Crusaders of Point Loma Nazarene.

    A partisan crowd of just over 1,000 people showed up to watch UCSD wrap up its regular season, and even though the game was not a league game it still had playoff implications, and there was some good action on the field as the Tritons defeated the Crusaders 1-0.

    “”It was a great atmosphere out there, and it was a tough game also with the rain and everything,”” McManus said. “”Our girls might have been a little tired from the night before.””

    It was a tight match from the start and a defensive gem for both sides.

    The Tritons finally broke through, however, on a goal from Dostalek, who took a through-ball from Jessica Cordova and drove it into the back of the net.

    The lone goal was all the Tritons needed, as goalie Carolyn Cadei played her first complete game of the season and had two saves for her first collegiate shutout.

    The two wins this weekend give UCSD a stellar 15-2 regular season record, and a 12-2 record in league.

    “”These last two games really give us a head of steam going into the playoffs,”” said McManus.

    By winning their last games the Tritons assure that they will be ranked first in the CCAA tournament and have had a superb season in their freshman year in Division II.

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