LOS ANGELES- It is known to be hard to beat a team three times in a season. Cal State Dominguez Hills proved on Friday evening that it can be done. Three first half goals by the Toros, including two in the opening 13 minutes of play, proved to be too much as Sonoma State fell 3-0 in the opening round of the NCAA Division II Men's Soccer Championship Tournament at Jesse Owens Track on the campus of California State University, Los Angeles.
The loss eliminates the Seawolves from national title contention, ending their season at 14-5-4. Cal State Dominguez Hills (17-5-1) will move on to the NCAA Division II West Regional Championship and play the winner of top-seeded Cal State L.A. and fourth-seeded Cal State San Bernardino. That match will kickoff at 7 p.m.
It didn't take long for the Toros to find the back of the net. Just 1:54 into the match, Marco Pulido heaved a throw in towards the goal box on a line drive that found Greg Piechota who gave Cal State L.A. the first goal of the match.
A little over 11 minutes later, Pulido flung another throw in that landed in the box and bounced off a Sonoma State defender. The deflection landed at the feet of CSUDH's Andrew Marinez who connected on a shot from 20 yards out that beat Seawolves goalkeeper
Brook Johnson to the upper right side of the net for the early 2-0 lead.
Sonoma State then attempted several shots that just barely cleared the crossbar and posts, but none of the seven shots were able to find netting in the opening half.
However, the Toros found more success before the end of the period, off of another throw in by Pulido that found Piechota who headed it into the upper right corner of the net to take the three-goal advantage into halftime, along with the 10-7 lead in shots.
“We just didn't defend well on those three throw-ins,” said head coach
Marcus Ziemer. “On a narrow field like this (CSULA's field is 68 yards wide), throw-ins become very dangerous and the Toros proved that today. Other than those three moments, I thought we played well.”
Several more attempts by Sonoma State that missed just high and wide, could have easily gave the Toros a run, especially since the Seawolves outshot the Toros 10-7 in the final 45 minutes of the match, including an 8-1 advantage on corner kicks (9-1 overall).
"I was happy with the way we played in the second half," commented Ziemer. "We didn't quit and showed a lot of pride."
But, in the end, Cal State Dominguez Hills, defending their national title, held strong for the 3-0 victory.
“Cal State Dominguez Hills is a very good team and they are playing their best soccer right now,” said Ziemer, “I really didn't feel like we played that badly.”
The Toros' freshman netminder Markus Dickerson saved eight shots in the shutout victory and Piechota had a game-high six shots.
For Sonoma State, junior
Ben Langwith led with four shots and Johnson made five stops between the posts in his final match as a Seawolf.
It was the worst loss for Sonoma State in the NCAA tournament since 1993, when it lost 4-0 to Seattle Pacific in the second round. The Seawolves (known as the Cossacks up until the 2002 season), fall to 10-5-3 all-time in the postseason.
Sonoma State wraps up its 2009 schedule, but not before winning the California Collegiate Athletic Association North Division for the sixth consecutive year with a 10-3-3 record in conference. Three of the five losses by Sonoma State came at the mercy of Cal State Dominguez Hills in 2009.
“It's been a great season,” finished Ziemer, “To have a season like this when many people expected us to have a down year..it's been a lot of fun. We're going to miss our seniors who have played their final game in a Sonoma State uniform.”
Box Score: #15 Cal State Dominguez Hills 3, #21 Sonoma State 0
