Fresh moves: Freshman midfielder Brett Maurer makes a move on a Golden Eagles defender in UCSD¹s 3-1 victory. He recorded his third goal of the season and assisted on the Tritons¹ first goal of the game.
Going into its matchup against CSU Los Angeles on Sept. 26, the UCSD menís soccer team faced a bit of a challenge from head coach Derek Armstrong. (Confusing ‚bk) The team hadnít been playing up to its capabilities, but the Tritons began to show some signs that theyíre reaching their potential in a 3-1 victory over the Eagles at Triton Soccer Stadium.
UCSD got off to a slow start in the first game of a four-game home stand, with CSULA controlling the ball on the Tritonsí side of the field for the majority of the first 15 minutes of the game.
Once UCSD managed to get the ball on the Eaglesí half, the Tritons found themselves just dribbling directly into the CSULA defense on the left side of the field instead of crossing it over to forward Brett Maurer, who seemed to be on a different field because there was usually no one near him.
Around the 22-minute mark, UCSD forward David Amaya had the ball and was working down the left side near the CSULA goal, attracting the defense toward him. Maurer was making a run down the right side, yelling for the ball while there was no one in front of him. After Amaya had the ball kicked out of bounds, Maurer went over and said something to him. And then just three minutes later, the Tritons worked the ball down the right sideline, and midfielder Jon Krupansky took a short touch pass from Maurer and put it behind the CSULA goalkeeper Ricky Gonzalez.
In the second half, the Tritons increased their 1-0 lead at the 50:51 mark when midfielder Matthew Davey took a long-range shot from just outside the penalty box that deflected off a defender and found the left corner of the goal.
After CSULA cut the UCSD advantage to just one again in the 68th minute with a goal from midfielder Kota Taniyama, the Tritons iced the game eight minutes later. The UCSD goal came after forward Tiago Venturi had a shot blocked by Gonzalez and Maurer took the rebound to put it at the back of the net.
Venturi, who led the team in scoring and assists in 2002, didnít start the game against CSULA, but he recorded an assist on each of UCSDís last two goals.
ìI was very pleased with his play today,î Armstrong said.
Although the Tritons found a way to take advantage of the Eaglesí weaknesses, UCSD didnít take care of the ball, giving it away to CSULA, and couldnít capitalize on some good goal-scoring opportunities. Two times late in the game, the Tritons earned breakaways where they only had to beat the goalie, but UCSD couldnít score on either chance.
ìA good team doesnít do that,î Armstrong said after the game. ìAgainst a good team, we canít do that. We were able to get away with it tonight, but against a good team, weíll be punished.î
UCSD, which improved to 5-2 overall and 4-2 in the California Collegiate Athletic Association, continued its home stand by facing the CCAA Central leaders CSU Dominguez Hills on Sept. 28. Results of the game were unavailable at press time.
The Tritons will next be in action against Chico State at Triton Soccer Stadium on Oct. 3 at 4:30 p.m., and then they will take on rival UC Davis on Oct. 5 at 7 p.m.
