ROHNERT PARK, CALIF. - On Wednesday, September 14th, the Sonoma State men's soccer team made it three straight wins with a 2-1 victory over PacWest opponent Dominican University in front of an electrifying crowd at Seawolf Soccer Field. The Seawolves jumped out to a 1-0 lead off of a terrific free kick from senior midfielder Ulysses Vega from the left side of the 18-yard box in the minute. Vega slotted his free kick in the upper left corner before celebrating with the storming crowd on the far side. However, no more than a minute later Dominican would grab a goal and tie the match up with a nice cutback ball in the box and a slotted one-time finish. Both teams would match each other in shots by the end of the first half as the game remained tied. 

Sonoma State recorded their best crowd of the season and in recent memory with nearly 200 people in attendance and the energy was certainly felt from both sides with hard tackles and high emotions throughout the entire match. A massive goal scoring opportunity would come for Dominican in the 62nd minute as they were awarded a penalty on a foul against SSU goalkeeper Reinier ter Riet who was chasing down a cross in the box but clipped the Penguins forward in the process. ter Riet would repay his teammates though with a clutch fingertip save from the Dominican penalty taker. The ball would come right back to the forward off the left post and ter Riet would make another incredible body save off the rebound before the ball was finally cleared out and a foul would put a stop to the action. The Seawolf crowd and bench erupted as ter Riet kept it a tie game. He would finish the match with a game high 6 saves.        

The game would quickly turn into an open ended affair in the latter part of the second half with counter attacking chances from both teams but it would be SSU who would strike next with just under 15 minutes to play. Sophomore midfielder Johnnie Dodge would let a shot go from nearly 35 yards out but see it blocked by a Penguins defender. Dodge would then follow up the block, beat one defender and lunge to poke the ball out to the left side before getting stepped on inside the box, drawing the penalty in the 76th minute. 

It would be senior midfielder Ulysses Vega who would step up to the spot and take the ball, looking to give the Seawolves the lead and secure the potential game winning goal. After deliberation from the referees, Vega would slot the ball in the lower left corner and rush to SSU's bench to celebrate their newly found 2-1 lead in what would go down as the game winner. Vega would play all 90 minutes for the Seawolves in an absolute battle and lead the team with four shots and a pair of goals. 

Some last ditch defending from the Seawolves back line would allow them to see out the game in the final 10 minutes and hold on to the 2-1 win. "That was a great win to simply put it", said head coach Marcus Ziemer. "Dominican is a well coached team and played with a ton of energy. It was a dog fight and tonight we came out on top and found a way to win. Reinier made a huge double save on the penalty and that totally kept us in the game". 

"Uly was a warrior tonight, he played the whole game for the fourth time this season and stepped up to bury the penalty for the game winner. Very proud of our guys being down a couple starters and grinding out a win over a very tough Dominican squad" (Ziemer).  

Center backs Matt Walleigh and Federico Barbieri recorded another pair of 90 minute games while midfielder Johnnie Dodge recorded his third 90 minute game of the season and played multiple positions in the Seawolves midfield throughout the game. Freshman defender Elliot Stanley also made a nice impact off the bench with an effective 43 minutes of action. Stanley and Jvon Cunningham combined nicely for SSU on the right side in the second half and helped create several dangerous chances. Junior midfielder Nathan Arnott was also effective in the middle with several challenges and physical play. Arnott tallied 70 minutes of action, good for second most on the season. 

Sonoma State improves to 3-1-2 on the season with their third consecutive win tonight. They will conclude their non-conference schedule this Saturday against SF State before opening up conference play against Chico State the following week. Kickoff is slated for 12:30 PM, live stat, stream, and ticket links can be found at sonomaseawolves.com. Be sure to follow your Seawolves on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to get all the latest SSU athletics updates and information. Sonoma State athletics also has launched a new fan app in partnership with From Now On. Download the free app today in both the Apple and Google Play stores by searching Sonoma State Seawolves in the app store. @SonomaSeawolves | #NomaNation