SAN BERNARDINO, CALIF. - On Sunday October 10th the Sonoma State men's soccer team battled Cal State San Bernardino to end their Southern California road trip. The Seawolves were coming off of a spectacular last minute goal to defeat the Cougars of Cal State San Marcos 1-0 giving them a 1-1-1 record in CCAA play. The Seawolves have had one of the toughest opening schedules in conference play as they've faced off against three of the top teams in the conference including Cal State LA, Cal Poly Pomona, and now Cal State San Bernardino.
After 45 minutes of action the game would head into halftime tied 0-0. The Seawolves were out-shot 6-1 in the first half and freshman keeper Reinier Ter Riet was huge all game for SSU as he recorded four saves in the first half and finished with seven saves in the entire match, tying his season high.
Marcus Ziemer and his group would come out and battle in the second half as they recorded three shots in the second 45 including one on goal. The game would get dicey in the 83rd minute as both teams would pick up red cards and bring the game to 10v10. After an intentional handball from a Coyotes defender denying a goal scoring opportunity for SSU, the referee gave the player a red card and awarded the Seawolves a free kick about 25 yards out.
Matt Lee would take the left footed shot from the right side of the box. A curling ball to the middle portion of the net would worry the keeper but he would make the catch and save to keep the game tied.
Just seconds later, the Coyotes broke out on a counter and caught the Seawolves in transition. A nice through ball would put the San Bernardino forward in on goal but transfer defender
Jason Hernandez would sprint over and collide with the Coyote forward to deny the goal scoring opportunity. Unfortunately, the play would result in a red card for Hernandez and so the man up advantage for Sonoma State would be short lived. The ensuing free kick from San Bernardino would miss the frame and the game would eventually make its way to overtime just minutes later after the score remained tied at zero.
After just 5 minutes into the first overtime period, San Bernardino would score the game winning goal off a cross from the left side. The cross would come in and miss all the Seawolf and Coyote players in the box and then surprise an SSU defender on the back post. The ball would deflect off of the defender and fall to the feet of the Coyote forward for him to tap in and win the game in sudden death. A very unfortunate goal would leave a bitter taste in the mouth for Sonoma State as they have gone to overtime in three of their four conference games so far this season with quality opportunities to win in each of them.
Despite dropping to 1-2-1 in CCAA play, SSU has faced some of the toughest teams in the conference and still have quality matchups coming up to attempt to climb the conference standings with plenty of the season left. The Seawolves return home for a great matchup against nationally ranked Cal State Dominguez Hills on Thursday October 14th at 3:00 pm.
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