ARCATA, Calif. — Lead by goals from Eric Alvarado and TJ Perez, Sonoma State put together a gritty performance Sunday morning at Humboldt State University to best Cal State Dominguez Hills 2-1 in regulation and keep their CCAA playoff hopes alive.
When asked about his team's performance after the game, head coach Marcus Ziemer expressed satisfaction with how his squad played.
"Our defense was excellent, Mitch North made a couple of saves to keep us level and TJ Perez stepped up again when it counted. Luis Mendoza was fantastic this weekend. He had three assists and worked hard defensively as well.
"Evan Roehrig did an excellent job marking their top goal scorer, Leo Nogueira—he's very dangerous. Evan harassed him all day and forced him to defend."
The Seawolves got out on the front foot, thanks to an early goal by Eric Alvarado in the first half, and held their 1-0 lead through the break. Alvarado's goal came in the 8th minute when Luis Mendoza sent a ball in the box off a corner kick. The cross went far post where Alvarado was waiting to knock it in.
Dominguez Hills battled back in the second half, equalizing in the 51st when Carlos Escobedo headed home a goal off a set-piece.
With the match knotted at one, each team battled through the second half exchanging shots and looking for the go-ahead goal. With four-and-a-half minutes remaining in regulation, and the game seemingly destined for overtime, TJ Perez connected with Luis Mendoza to notch what proved the game-winner.
"We knew the momentum was coming for us" Perez recalled. "We kept pushing forward, pushing forward, getting chance after chance and it finally came our way."
A beautiful cross by Mendoza landed at the foot of Perez who took the shot from inside the corner of the box. Toros' keeper Chase Gentry got a hand to it on a diving save attempt, but it was not enough to stop the momentum, which carried the ball inside the near post for the Seawolves go-ahead goal.
SSU held on in the final minutes, finishing out the match and securing a much-needed win as they approach their final game of the season.
"We lost some winnable games early in the season and our backs are against the wall, but I'm really proud of how we responded" Ziemer said. "We beat two of the top teams in the CCAA to keep our chances of being in the CCAA tournament alive."
Ziemer also went on to express his gratitude to Humboldt State for hosting SSU's games this weekend.
"I'd like to thank Humboldt state for hosting our games up in Arcata. I would also like to thank the coaches of Cal State LA, Dominguez Hills and Humboldt for agreeing to adjust the schedule so that we could fit four games in without lights. It's been tough back home but we showed we could ignore the distractions, handle the pressure and that we are Sonoma County Strong!"
With the win, the Seawolves collect six points on the weekend and improve to 7-6-2 and 4-4-1 in conference play.
