ROHNERT PARK -- Five different Sonoma State players found the net on Thursday en route to a 5-1 blowout victory over visiting Academy of Art. The Seawolves have won four straight matches since their season-opening loss to then-No. 3 Simon Fraser back on Sept. 4, improving to 4-1-0 this season. The Urban Knights stumbled to 1-4-0.
"We played really well today," said SSU head coach
Marcus Ziemer. "We created a lot of chances and put them under pressure right from the beginning. They have a lot of good players and have been in a lot of close games, so this was a good win.
"This is the deepest team that we have had in a while," Ziemer added. "When we sub we just don't get worse, we just get different. We played everybody today and we kept scoring until the final couple of minutes. We don't have one player that opponents can key in on and defend."
It didn't take long for Sonoma to strike as
Sean Callahan and
Raspreet Sandhu teamed up to find
Chris Pihl, who converted his first goal of the season just 5:09 into the contest.
"Sean (Callahan) is a great linking player for us," explained Ziemer. "He handles the ball very well under pressure and helps us get out of trouble."
Just under four minutes later at 9:01,
Eric Alvarado emerged from a scum near the goalmouth and rifled a shot into the net for the quick 2-0 lead in favor of Sonoma State.
Both teams then went back and forth and not until the 52nd minute was another score recorded, and it was
Raad Aljabi finding
Armando Coronel for the 3-0 lead at 51:48. Nearly 10 minutes later, Aljabi again supplied the opportunity, along with
Josh Sanchez, but this time
Brenton Frame got in on the scoring act to put the Seawolves on top 4-0.
Academy of Art never quit, however. After a quick corner, Dominic Payerchin served the ball into Sam McKay who headed it at SSU goalkeeper
Sean Taufer, but as Taufer made the point-blanc save, it bounced right to Lennart Fleschhut, who finished into the lower right corner for the Urban Knights' first goal of the evening.
The Seawolves weren't done, though, as Alvarado and
Anthony Dib found
Tyler Troup alone near the right post and Troup connected on his shot to put a cap on the 5-1 victory for Sonoma State.
The Urban Knights actually held a 7-4 advantage in shots in the first half, but a 10-5 margin by the Seawolves in the final 45 totaled 14 shots for SSU and 12 for ARTU in the match. Taufer made five stops for the Seawolves on the day.
"Sean (Taufer) didn't have to make a lot of saves, but he is very good with his feet and he is always unmarked so we always have an outlet," Ziemer said.
Ziemer added, "
Michel Arroyo, the CCAA Freshman of the Year in 2012, has been out with (an injury) for a year and a half and he just got cleared to play yesterday. It was great to see him back on the field and he was very sharp."
"Sunday's game at Notre Dame de Namur is very important. They are going to be tough. We have just been focusing on one game at a time so we will enjoy this win tonight and then start preparing," Ziemer said.
Sonoma State hits the road on Sunday to play Notre Dame de Namur in Belmont. Kickoff is set for 2:00 pm.
