CARSON, Calif -  The Sonoma State men's soccer team lost a tough one to Cal  State Dominguez Hills, 1-0 in the CCAA Championship game.  The loss ends SSU's school record 17-game winning streak.

It was a hard fought match that could have gone either way. "We jumped on them early, but couldn't get a goal", said head coach Marcus Ziemer, "After they scored we through
everything we had at them, but couldn't find the net".

With the loss, the Seawolves, currently ranked 2nd in the region,
will most likely drop to #3 and will be heading either back to
Dominguez Hills or up to Seattle University for the NCAA regionals.

"We don't care where we go," said Ziemer, "After being left out last
year, we just want the call saying that we are in!" In 2002, the
Seawolves lost in the conference tournament, but ended up beating
Dominguez Hills in the NCAA's and went onto win the National
Championship.

Today's match-up pitted the best two teams in the conference, with
neither team giving an inch. The Seawolves started fast as Nathan
Medina took a loose ball 3 yards from the CSUDH net and blasted his
left-footed shot high just 15 seconds into the contest, after which
Julio Madrigal blocked a Casey Dayton blast in front of the Toro net
in the 10th minute.

The Toros took their first crack at the scoreboard in three minutes
later as Jose Serpas sent a corner kick to Kevin Gallaugher right in
front of the Seawolf net, only to see his attempt go wide.

That missed opportunity became a harbinger for the Toros as Madrigal
sent a corner in the 19th minute to Gallaugher, who headed the feed
to Serpas, who then headed the ball past SSU keeper Brook Johnson
near post for a 1-0 lead at 18:07, accounting for the first half's
lone score.

As the game progressed, so did the intensity and physicality of the
play as seven cautions were issued in the second half as an urgent
Seawolf team pressed the Toro defense for the chance to equalize.
SSU outshot the hosts 9-3 after the break, tallying a 17-11 overall
shot advantage for the game. CSUDH keeper Derby Carrillo tallied
four saves in the clincher, while SSU's Brook Johnson went for three
in the loss.

“The last time played Sonoma (Oct. 5), I thought we played good but
were not as sharp as we were today,” begins Flanagan. “We had a
little more of a game plan today and I think we followed it. We
worked hard and never stopped and just stayed true to the course of
what we were trying to do.”

“We were doing our best to ruin Joe's birthday, but unfortunately
we couldn't,” said SSU head coach Marcus Ziemer. “It was a very
intense game. Both teams battled hard and DH did a good job of
neutralizing our game a little bit. Although the field made it very
difficult for us to move the ball, you've got to give credit to
them. They are a very good team and it's a great rivalry, and
hopefully we will get to play them again next weekend.”