The men’s soccer team handily beat Cal State Stanislaus on Oct. 11 to improve its California Collegiate Athletic Association record to 6-4 and its overall record to 8-4. The 3-0 victory comes just five days after a 1-0 shutout over UC Davis.
A relatively uneventful first period yielded only six shots on goal between the teams, but the Tritons maintained possession of the ball for the majority of the 45 minutes. A final push in the last minute of the first half nearly netted a goal for the Tritons, but after a wide shot, they entered halftime in a 0-0 tie.
In the first 20 minutes of the second half, the Tritons really stepped it up, scoring two goals nine minutes apart. The first goal, at 53:15, was scored by Ali Managhebi, who headed in a cross from the right by Luke Russell for the first of his two assists. Jon Krupansky then beat CSUS’s goalkeeper one-on-one after an assist from Russell, scoring the second goal at 62:58. The final goal of the period was scored at 84:42 by Burke Fathy, who shot in a rebound off the goalkeeper from a Magnus Lu shot.
Besides dominating the scoring in the game, the Tritons outshot CSUS 13-9 and dominated possession of the ball, especially at the start of the second half. The Warriors could not match the speed of the Tritons and always seemed to be chasing the ball.
CSUS also lacked aggressive play, rarely having the majority of it team on the Tritons’ side of the field. UCSD, however, played most of the game on the Warriors’ side of the field.
The Tritons’ ball handling was superior to that of CSUS’s as well, with passes nearly always hitting the intended player, while the Warriors seemed less deliberate, merely passing to a part of the field and hoping a teammate would be there.
Russell managed to find open teammates throughout the game; he assisted two of the three UCSD goals.
“”I just put the crosses up, and they got them in,”” Russell said. “”That is how it has got to work.””
He went on to stress that he felt the team is coming together, and he has hopes for them finishing strong.
UCSD head coach Derek Armstrong expressed similar sentiments, and he also credited the Warriors.
“”[CSUS is] a very scrappy team, they played with a lot of fire,”” Armstrong said.
Looking ahead to the Tritons’ next game on Oct. 26, UCSD will have time to prepare for the last leg of its schedule and clinch a trip to the conference championships.