The UCSD men’s soccer team looked to score the biggest win of its early season against Cal State Dominguez Hills on Sept. 12 at Triton Soccer Stadium.
Forward Charles McKay goes for a clean sweep past his Cal State Stanislaus opponent during Friday’s game, which ended in a 3-1 victory for the Tritons.
The Tritons entered the match with an overall record of 2-1-1, and a California Collegiate Athletic Association record of 1-0-1. They trailed only the Toros, who entered the match with an overall record of 6-0-0, 2-0-0 in CCAA play, and came in ranked No. 15 nationally among Division II schools.
However, the Tritons proved to be undaunted and were able to pull out a 1-0 win in a double overtime thriller that ended with a freshman delivering the golden goal.
Freshman midfielder Tony Choi buried a shot in the back of the net four minutes into the second overtime, ensuring the Triton victory. Choi made an aggressive play on junior midfielder Tom Winkler’s deflected corner kick and delivered a rocket that sailed past the goalkeeper.
Senior Mark Moriera stood his ground and earned the Tritons six goals by the end of weekend play.
The deciding goal may have been the highlight of the match, but it was a strong defensive outing that earned the Tritons victory.
Senior defensemen Dustin Tannenhaus and Matt Horne led a tenacious defense that frustrated the Toros the entire match. Tannenhaus described the Triton’s 4-5-1 defensive formation that kept the Toros off the scoreboard.
“The 4-5-1 allows us to keep 10 men behind the ball and plug up passing lanes against an aggressive offense like Dominguez Hills,” he said.
Despite the solid defensive outing, Cal State Dominguez Hills was able to muster 19 shots, four of which were saved by sophomore goalkeeper Luis Salazar. Salazar credited his team’s concentration as one of the deciding factors.
“[The Toros] were undefeated and one of our fiercest rivals,” Salazar said. “The entire team knew that if we were going to hand them their first loss, we had to stay focused.”
Tannenhaus believed the win would give the Tritons a boost heading into the rest of conference play. “This win gives our guys tons of confidence for the future after a mediocre start to the season,” he said.
The Tritons looked to use their newfound momentum as they went on the road to take on Cal State Stanislaus in Turlock, Calif. on Sept. 16. Unlike their previous match, the Tritons had no problem scoring goals, receiving an early score from sophomore Tom Caplan, who headed in a crossing pass from Choi at the 1 minute, 57 second mark to net his first goal of the season.
After the Warriors tied the match with a goal by Frank Coehlo at the 19:19 mark, senior forward Mark Moreira wasted little time putting the Tritons ahead again, scoring a goal for a 2-1 lead. Moreira, a transfer from UC Riverside, has been a valuable commodity this season and is leading the team in goals with five.
The game remained close late into the second half before sophomore forward Michael Grubic scored his first collegiate goal at the 79:17 mark. Sophomore forward Jonathan Sawyer assisted the goal, allowing the Tritons to capture the 3-1 victory.
Horne said that his team’s ability to fnish goals was the main reason for the convincing win.
“We have not been finishing goals early in the season,” Horne said. “However, we were able to come out and execute and finish the chances we were given.”
Tannenhaus was excited about the infusion of young talent into the Triton lineup.
“It has been great to see the young guys get in and make a difference,” Tannenhaus said. “We see them do it all day in practice and now they have the chance to do it for real,”
The win pushed the Tritons’ record to 3-0-1 in divisional play and 4-1-1 overall. The Warriors of the North Division suffered their first loss in divisional play, dropping their record to 3-1-0 and 4-4-0 overall.
The Tritons’ momentum carried over to their inspiring play against Chico State on Sept. 17.
After a tiring 109 minutes of play, Choi converged on a ball from Horne and found the back of the net to send the Wildcats home with a 1-0 loss.
Despite notching 17 shots to UCSD’s 8 in the match, the Wildcats fell, suffering their third loss of the young season.
One key factor in the outcome may have been the quality of the goalkeeping, as Salazar turned away four shots, while Wildcat keeper Brian Linne could only defend one of two Triton strikes.
The Tritons return home to host Western Washington University on Wednesday Sept. 20 at 7 p.m.
