Despite playing one of its best matches of the season, the UCSD men’s soccer team lost to Cal State Dominguez Hills in the semifinals of the California Collegiate Athletic Association tournament.
The tournament was hosted by Sonoma State University. The game, originally scheduled to be played at SSU’s Seawolf Field, was moved to a nearby field in Petaluma, Calif., due to heavy rains that had rendered the SSU field unusable.
The Toros scored the only goal of the game just eight minutes into play on a point-blank shot by CSUDH’s Rick Cobb that barely made its way past UCSD keeper Jeremy Cookson. The Tritons played strong the rest of the first half, but found themselves down by one goal at halftime.
In the second half, UCSD stepped up and came out strong, but despite having several chances, could not get past the stingy CSUDH defense.
“”They have a hell of a defense,”” said Triton head coach Derek Armstrong. “”They only let in six goals all season.””
From about the 65th minute, the Tritons stepped up the offensive pressure even more and missed several close chances.
“”They were just hanging in for the last 20 to 30 minutes of the game,”” Armstrong said. “”I think if we had another minute or two, we would have had an equalizer, and then we would have gone on to win.””
Because the match was played at a park in Petaluma, there was no scoreboard displaying the time. Additionally, the playing surface was Astroturf.
“”I think the turf affected us more than them,”” Armstrong said.
Until this match, UCSD had not played a match on an artificial surface this season.
Despite the loss, Armstrong is pleased with the match.
“”It’s a very, very positive finish for the season,”” Armstrong said. “”I’m pleased. We actually did very well.””
The Tritons finish the season with an 11-6 record overall and a 9-5 record in CCAA matches. The finish is a considerable improvement over last year’s record of 6-9-1. Cal State Dominguez Hills (18-3-1, 13-1-0 CCAA) advanced to the CCAA finals and defeated Cal State Bakersfield by a score of 2-0 to win the conference title.
Looking ahead to next season, all things point to continued improvement and success for UCSD. The Tritons fielded the youngest team in the conference this year and still managed to win the CCAA South Division title. Additionally, freshman midfielder Matthew Davey narrowly missed being selected as CCAA Freshman of the Year. Five players, including NCAA All-American Bobby Saadati, will graduate following this season, but the bulk of the roster will return next fall to try and improve on this year’s performance.
