With the assistance of senior Matt Davey’s two goals, the No. 21 UCSD men’s soccer team posted a 2-0 shutout over Cal State Monterey Bay on Oct. 9 at Triton Soccer Stadium.
After a slow start, the Tritons (8-3-1 overall, 5-2-1 California Collegiate Athletic Association) transformed the rhythm of the game after Cal State Monterey Bay committed a foul in the box.
At the 39 minute, 40 second mark in the first half, Davey netted his eighth goal of the year on a penalty kick after senior Grant Nishio was shoved from behind in the penalty box.
The penalty kick gave the Tritons a 1-0 lead going into halftime, and they refused to relinquish their advantage during the second half. Instead, the Tritons doubled their lead.
Davey rocketed a ball past Cal State Monterey Bay goalkeeper Bobby Arteaga from 10 yards out at the 46:56 mark to give the Tritons an insurance goal.
Freshman Tom Caplan flicked junior Dustin Tannenhaus’ throw-in pass to Davey and was credited with an assist.
“Davey really stepped it up, especially with his second goal, which helped us a lot,” senior UCSD goalkeeper Edward Ruhland said.
Ruhland played the first 83 minutes of the match, posting two saves and allowing no goals, lowering his season goals-against average to a miniscule 0.47 per game.
Freshman Luis Salazar played the final seven minutes to secure the team’s sixth shutout of the season. With the 2-0 win, the Tritons have now out-scored their opponents by a 20-5 margin.
The game was marred by 27 fouls, 19 of which were committed by Otters.
Ten cards were assessed during the match, two to the Tritons and the other eight to Cal State Monterey Bay.
“The game was very aggressive and there was a lot of tough play,” Ruhland said. “This game was our most physical game yet.”
Sophomore Jake True and senior Stephen Lopez of Cal State Monterey Bay were each carded twice, resulting in red card ejections late in the second half.
Despite the convincing victory, Ruhland felt that there were lessons to be learned from the game.
“Though we played pretty well, we definitely had some missed opportunities, especially offensively,” Ruhland said.
The Tritons lost 1-2 to Cal State Bakersfield on Oct. 12. Details were unavailable at press time.
From there they will continue on to face Chico State and Cal State Stanislaus on Oct. 14 and 16, respectively.
Following their long road trip, the Tritons will play three more regular season games before the start of the CCAA playoffs on Nov. 4.
