The weekend started well for the UCSD men’s soccer team, but quickly turned sour when the Cal State Bakersfield Roadrunners rolled into town and over the men’s team, winning 5-0 on Oct. 13.
No. 17-ranked CSUB proved too much for the Tritons, whose record dropped to 8-5 overall and 6-5 in the California Collegiate Athletic Association, leaving them in second place, one point behind Cal Poly Pomona.
The first half showed no signs of a blowout — the Tritons limited CSUB to one goal and were only outshot 9-6. The lone goal was scored by Roadrunner Kevin Bonilla off a right cross from teammate Alex Camacho at 29:25.
However, true to their name, the Roadrunners put on a display of speed that left the Tritons behind. At times UCSD looked short a man because CSUB always had an open player downfield. This problem was compounded by the Roadrunners’ highly accurate passing, which rarely missed its target. Even so, it was not until 25 minutes into the second half that the game fell apart.
The real damage started at 73:29 when Roadrunner Alfredo Chavez took a shot off Joey Mejias’s long-distance pass into the upper part of UCSD’s goal. The Tritons switched goalkeepers at that point, giving junior Jeremy Cookson a break.
Less than a minute later, new sophomore goalkeeper Scott Mazurier got a rude awakening when CSUB’s Drew Rea headed in a corner kick from Chavez at 74:19. Less than 11 minutes later, at 85:03, Roadrunner Greg Knittel stole the ball from a Triton defender and scored unassisted. The final goal of the night came from Shaun Luque, who shot in a right cross from teammate Andrew Kelly at 87:54.
As dismal as the second half sounds, the Tritons were not without scoring opportunities. In fact, they had many impressive pushes that they were just unable to capitalize upon.
Roadrunner goalkeeper Josh Wicks made five saves on nine Triton shots. Even though the team failed to score, UCSD had impressive ball control for the first 20 minutes of the second period.
“”We had lost some confidence and couldn’t get the final push to score,”” said UCSD head coach Derek Armstrong of his team’s inability to follow through on any of its drives in the second period.
CSUB played a very physical game and was clearly pushing the Tritons around in the first half. However, UCSD stepped up in the second half and the tension between the teams became quite apparent. This, mixed with a few controversial calls by the referees and being outscored 4-0, resulted in a very disheartening second half for the Tritons.
“”I think we met a team that is too hot to handle,”” Armstrong said. “”We have two weeks off now. We’re going to do some training and hopefully forget about this game.””
Looking ahead, the UCSD alumni game will take place Oct. 19. The Tritons will return to competitive play on Oct. 26, when they face Cal State San Bernardino for their final home game of the regular season.
