LOS ANGELES, Calif. – Led from goal by Arturo Ornelas, Sonoma State stayed close throughout Sunday afternoon's match with #12 Cal State LA, but eventually fell 1-0 on a 57th minute goal by the hosts from University Stadium.

"Friday was a brutal loss and playing a man down for 90 minutes took a lot out of us," head coach Marcus Ziemer said of his team's 3-2 double-overtime loss to Cal State Dominguez Hills two days ago. "That having been said, I thought we were organized and ready for the game today, and even though they had more chances we were in the game 'till late. I was proud of how the guys battled."

The Golden Eagles racked up chances through the first half, with numerous shots on goal but were consistently denied by Seawolves' keeper Arturo Ornelas. Despite 12 first-half shots—half of which ended up on frame—all attempts continued to be turned away by Sonoma State.

LA's best chance of the half came 15 minutes into the match when the Golden Eagles' scoring leader, Robin Lindahl turned on one just shy of the six-yard box. A corner-kick serve fell into the goal area and bounced around before Lindahl caught Ornelas on the near post, sending his shot the opposite way. Luckily enough, Alek Cucuk was set up right on the goal line, making a team save with his body and blocking the ball from bouncing in.

While play remained much in the Seawolves' defensive half, Sonoma State maintained a possession-oriented pace while sending their attackers on sporadic runs down the line.

One of those runs created a dangerous chance for the Seawolves as Marco Barrigan found Kyle Owings, with a ball slotted through the top right corner of the box. Owings took a touch before winding up for a shot but the ball blazed just over the crossbar and out of play.

CSULA broke the scoreless tie in the 56th minute as a combination of passes from Jorge Orellana and Daniel Simonis sent Leonardo Nogueira on the attack on a through ball into the box. Nogueira's shot was flicked on to the far post where it beat Ornelas for the 1-0 lead.

At the 69th minute, the Seawolves' top scorer, Sebastian Santos created a dangerous chance to equalize. With a cross lifted into the box, Santos settled a ball at the penalty spot where he blasted the ball in the direction of goal. However, with numerous LA defenders surrounding Santos, the shot proved blocked by the Golden Eagles' back line.

The Seawolves' found themselves led in the second half by the pace of Salvador Gomez-Avila who created chances and some breaks down the line.

With just under 12 minutes remaining, Luis Mendoza found Sonoma State's best opportunity of the match as Brian Field centered a ball from the left line to the Seawolf forward. Controlled by Mendoza 25 yards out, his shot rocketed toward goal, but just over the crossbar and out of harm's way.

With the loss the Seawolves fall to 2-4-2 and 0-3-1 in CCAA play. Sonoma State returns to action next weekend as they head south to take on UC San Diego and Cal State San Marcos.

"We are a good team and I have confidence that we can get back on track," noted Ziemer. "The key for us now is to recover, regroup and focus on getting ready for Friday's game at UC San Diego. There are still a lot of conference games to be played and it doesn't matter whether you win them in the beginning or the end, we just need to win some games."