The UCSD men’s soccer team beat UC Davis on Oct. 6 to stay atop the South Division of the California Collegiate Athletic Association. The Tritons’ 1-0 victory over the Aggies ended a brief two-game losing streak.
Freshman midfielder Matthew Davey took a free kick from just outside the penalty box in the 15th minute of the game. Davey used the kick as a chance to put the Tritons ahead early in the game, when he put the ball in the top right corner of the Davis goal.
Although UCSD’s defense made Davey’s goal stand up, the Tritons faced several threats from the Aggies. With just under six minutes remaining in the first half, Aggie Jeremy Warner found a loose ball at his feet in front of the net, but his shot went wide of the Triton goal.
In the second half of the game, UC Davis held control of the ball for most of the time. The action was usually on UCSD’s end of the field and the Aggies outshot the Tritons 10-4 in the half. UC Davis had a chance late in the game when Aggie Peter Barrick passed it over the heads of the Triton defenders to teammate Ryan Shaw, who stood left of the Triton goal. Shaw put the ball across to the front of the net, but there was no one there to capitalize and finish the play.
UC Davis also had a one-man advantage over the final 10 minutes of the game after Triton midfielder David Ower received a red card, which forced him to leave the game.
Despite allowing the Aggies many scoring chances, UCSD head coach Derek Armstrong credited his team’s effort on defense.
“”That defense holds this team,”” Armstrong said. “”And in the last 10 minutes, we were defending as a unit.””
With a 7-4 overall record and a mark of 5-4 in the CCAA, the Tritons have a two-point advantage over Cal Poly Pomona in the division standings. Going into the later stage of this fall season, Armstrong and his team believe that winning the South Division is within reach.
“”That is our goal at the moment,”” Armstrong said.
However, to accomplish the goal, UCSD will have to reduce its mistakes when it heads into the two home games scheduled for this weekend. The Tritons will face Cal State Stanislaus on Friday and then Cal State Bakersfield, which is riding a seven-game winning streak, on Oct. 13. UCSD will need the team effort that came out against Davis to be successful this weekend and throughout its final five games of the regular season.
“”We have to work on becoming a team,”” Armstrong said. “”We weren’t a team [earlier in the year]. Hopefully this game was the start of it.””