The UC San Diego men’s soccer team traveled up north to Arcata, California to face Humboldt State on Friday in what was supposed to be the first of its two matches in Northern California. However, due to the wildfires near Sonoma State, the Sunday clash against the Seawolves ultimately was cancelled.
With the postseason looming the Tritons want to finish the last stretch of matches strong and go into the California Collegiate Athletic Association Tournament, hosted at UCSD, with momentum. They did just that in their match against Humboldt as they left Arcata as 3–2 victors.
The Tritons could not have gotten off to a better start as they were able to knock in the first goal of the game in the 10th minute courtesy of junior midfielder Kiefer Cooksey. The junior’s first goal of the season made way for a dominant first half from the Tritons as Humboldt failed to get anything going in the opening 45 minutes. UCSD head coach John Pascale’s team held a 13–2 shot advantage in the first half, while also attempting ten corner kicks throughout the entire game compared to a grand total of zero for Humboldt in the full 90 minutes. After nearing a second goal on several occasions, the Tritons eventually made it a 2–0 lead in the 43rd minute through a corner kick that found the head of redshirt senior midfielder Danny Glascock, netting his first goal in over two years.
As the teams went to break, it looked like a Triton victory was imminent. However, in the second half, Humboldt showed some grit to make the contest interesting in the final minutes of the game.
About halfway through the second half in the 65th minute, Cooksey netted his second goal of the game make it a comfortable 3–0 lead, or so it seemed. One thing about scoring is once you get one, you believe you can get another. The momentum is crucial. Humboldt in the 79th minute found a bit of belief and notched their first goal of the game. Five minutes later, the Lumberjacks earned a penalty kick and made it 3–2. Next thing you know, it is a frantic last five minutes of the game as Humboldt State held all the momentum in an attempt at an incredible comeback. Fortunately for the Tritons, the score stayed as is for the remaining few minutes and earned all the three points.The match was a tale of two halves and if there was a bit more time on the clock, who knew what could have been the score. Humboldt State turned it around in the second 45 minutes as they outshot the Tritons 10–3.
Next up, UCSD will travel to San Marcos as they will look to earn another victory against the side as they did earlier in the month. The match against Cal State San Marcos is set for Friday, Oct. 20 with a 3 p.m. kick-off.
