ROHNERT PARK, CALIF. - On Sunday, October 1st, the Sonoma State men's soccer team fell 3-1 in a gutsy contest against 13th ranked Cal Poly Pomona. After falling behind two goals in the first half, the Seawolves would get one back just before the break on a wonderful transition goal from forward
Oliver Ziemer. After withstanding early pressure and chances from SSU's offense in the second half, the Broncos would put the game to bed with a third goal off a corner kick in the 73rd minute.
FIRST HALF SSU 1-2 CPP
The 13th ranked Broncos came out firing as their early pressure generated some shots inside the 18-yard box but the Seawolves saw some fantastic blocks from defenders
Lucas English and
Ian Reis to weather the storm early. Pomona would finally breakthrough though in the 35th minute off of quality build up play. They would produce a low shot from the right edge of the box that SSU keeper
Jack Chapman would get down nicely to make the save, but the Broncos forward would pounce on the rebound to give them a 1-0 lead.
Five minutes later, Pomona would double their lead with a header goal off of a corner kick into the bottom right corner. The Seawolves had their work cut out for them but they would grab some of the momentum back just a minute later with a goal of their own right before the break.
On the ensuing kickoff, the Seawolves would draw a quick foul in the midfield but elect to play quick off the restart. The ball would come to the left side for freshman defender
Cypress Navarro-Acio. Acio would play down the line and a brilliant turn from sophomore
Jvon Cunningham would put him one-on-one with a Broncos defender. After a pair of aggressive touches on the dribble Cunningham would pull up and play an early curling cross to the back post which found the feet of a streaking
Oliver Ziemer for the one time finish. Ziemer would fight through some contact when making the run but connect beautifully on the short hop to cut Pomona's lead in half.
FINAL SSU 1-3 CPP
Head coach
Marcus Ziemer and his group would carry the momentum into the start of the second half with some quality spells of possession and a pair of shots on goal. The Seawolves best opportunity of the half would come just minutes after kickoff as Cunningham found himself down the left side and clipped a ball to the back post. Once again, Ziemer would be on the end of it and connect on a half volley that would be acrobatically saved by the Broncos keeper. After the clearance, sophomore defender
Elliot Stanley would serve another dangerous ball in from the right side. Senior midfielder
Sean Rohane would rise up for a bicycle kick attempt in the box that would excite the crowd but ultimately trickle out for a goal kick to end the offensive flurry.
As the half continued, Sonoma State keeper
Jack Chapman would make a pair of stellar saves to keep his team within a goal. In the 66th minute, Chapman would make a one-on-one kick save inside the box.
Then, in the 72nd minute as the Broncos pressure ramped back up, Chapman would rise to his right and deny a powerful shot from the left edge of the 18-yard box. Unfortunately, Pomona would earn a corner kick off the shot attempt and go on to score another header inside the box to extend their lead to 3-1. Pomona outshot Sonoma State 7-4 in the second half and 13-7 for the game as they held on for the two goal victory.
Sean Rohane led SSU with three shots in his 61 minutes played and
Oliver Ziemer would record two shots and his first goal of the season.
A handful of Seawolves also made their first starts of the season including outside back
Cypress Navarro-Acio, midfielders
Graysen Garber,
Michael Gray, and forward
Oscar Palmerin.
LOOKING AHEAD
The Seawolves drop to 2-5-2 overall and 0-2 in CCAA play. They will hit the road next week and take on Cal State Monterey Bay on Friday, October 6th at 4:30 PM. Live stats 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
