The UCSD men’s soccer team concluded a frustrating season against San Francisco State and Cal State Monterey Bay, falling 1-0 on Oct. 20 and 2-0 on Oct. 22, respectively.
The UCSD players were unable to keep Cal State Monterey Bay pinned, as the Tritons suffered a 2-0 loss to drop their overall record to 7-10-2. The Tritons finished the season with only one win since Sept. 20, leaving much to be desired for next season.
With the pair of losses, UCSD finished with an overall record of 7-10-2 and a record of 5-9-2 in California Collegiate Athletic Association play.
The Tritons’ loss to San Francisco State was their 15th match of the season decided by one goal, and it came in a heartbreaking fashion.
After dominating the Gators on both sides of the ball for nearly the entire match, freshman forward Dylan Glass scored with only two minutes remaining to propel San Francisco State to the victory.
Freshman goalkeeper Joshua Vasquez made 25 saves in six appearances this season, but came up short against the Otters, giving up one goal on one shot in defeat.
UCSD outshot San Francisco State 26-11, but was still unable to put any balls past junior goalkeeper Ezra Mendoza, something that has plagued the team the entire year.
“We were not aggressive enough when we got the ball in scoring position,” senior defenseman Dustin Tannenhaus said. “We were not taking guys on and being creative with the ball like we know we have to be.”
The Tritons continued their road trip with their final match of the season against CCAA bottom dweller Cal State Monterey Bay. The CCAA newcomer came into the match with an overall record of 2-15-2 and 1-14-1 in conference play. However, it was senior day for the Otters, and they came out playing a quick, physical style that allowed them to jump on the Tritons early. In the 25th minute, after receiving a pass from freshman forward Andy Breault, junior midfielder Juan Gutierrez found junior midfielder Ben DeVoll in the box, 10 yards from the goal. DeVoll crushed a shot into the top right corner of the goal to put the Otters ahead 1-0.
“Cal State Monterey Bay came out with a lot of energy and really surprised us,” junior midfielder Tom Winkler said. “We could never quite match their intensity.”
The Otters’ second goal came only 24 seconds into the second half, when junior midfielder Kyle Satow shot a laser into the back of the net. DeVoll and Gutierrez assisted on the goal. The Tritons outshot the Otters by a margin of 14 to 11, but still could not put the final touch on the ball and convert shots to scores.
The loss marked the end of the season for the Tritons, and for the seniors on the team, the end of their collegiate careers. Despite the frustrating season, Tannenhaus looked back on his soccer career at UCSD with fondness.
“Playing soccer definitely brings a balance into my life and I cannot imagine going to school without it,” Tannanhaus said. “I guess it’s time to go sign up for intramurals now.”
Winkler believes that the Tritons have the opportunity to be a much better team next season.
“We had a lot of freshmen play a lot of minutes this season, and hopefully they will understand the college game a little bit better next year,” Winkler said.
The first area UCSD will look to improve during the off-season will certainly be the offensive side of the ball. During the final 11 matches of the season, the Tritons posted a record of 1-9-1, and only managed to score three goals during that time.
“We just were not able to put two halves together offensively the entire year, it seemed,” Winkler said. “It is unacceptable to lose games by one goal over and over again.”
Tannenhaus attributed the lack of offensive output to damaged confidence.
“Once we started getting shut out, we were never really able to regain our confidence,” he said.
The frustrating season was not without its highlights however, as the Tritons had many memorable moments.
Senior midfielder Mark Moreira led UCSD offensively with seven goals and three assists on the year. Freshman midfielder Tony Choi, who provided some game-winning heroics in the early part of the season, added four goals and four assists. Sophomore goalkeeper Luis Salazar led the team in saves with 54, while freshman goalkeeper Joshua Vasquez played extremely well down the stretch, posting a save percentage of .833.
