BOX SCORE Sonoma State 0, #18 Cal State L.A. 0 (F/2OT) -- Box Score
ROHNERT PARK -- The Sonoma State men's soccer team held 18th-ranked Cal State L.A. scoreless, but couldn't score a goal of its own through regulation and two overtime periods as the two squads were forced to a 0-0 tie on Friday afternoon at the Seawolf Soccer Field.
With the tie and a Cal State Monterey Bay win, the Seawolves (4-3-2 overall) and Otters are now tied atop the CCAA North Division standings at 3-3-1. Meanwhile, the Golden Eagles remain in second place in the South Division at 4-1-2 (6-1-2 overall).
"That felt like a loss," SSU head coach
Marcus Ziemer said. "We were really pushing for the win and thought we were going to get the game-winner. We had them pinned in for long periods of the game, but their defense is tough to break down."
Ziemer added that "they sat back and let our center backs have the ball and then they pressured when we played I to midfield and tried to counter. They have some dangerous players up top, but our defense did a good job keeping them in front of us and most of their shots were from outside."
The box score shows a fairly evenly-played match between both teams, although Cal State L.A. had a slight advantage in shots (13-12) and corner kicks (5-4) and CSULA had six shots on target as opposed to one by SSU. Only one shot would be attempted by either squad in the two overtimes, it was a shot that sailed wide left off the foot of Sonoma State's
Anders Perez at 94:01.
Diaz made six saves in the draw, tying a career-high for most in a match. His counterpart, Mike Beigarten, made one stop in the 110-minute marathon.
Sonoma State returns to the pitch on Sunday to host longtime South Division-rival Cal State Dominguez Hills. Kickoff is set for 2:00 pm.