SEASIDE, CALIF. - On Friday, October 6th the Sonoma State men's soccer team pulled off an upset when they needed it most to capture their first conference win this season. The Seawolves netted a goal in each half and had a great performance from junior goalkeeper
Reinier ter Riet to preserve the shutout and upend 15th ranked Monterey Bay, the program's first win against a ranked opponent since defeating 13th ranked Cal Poly Pomona in the CCAA Tournament last season.
FIRST HALF SSU 1-0 CSUMB
Head coach
Marcus Ziemer and his squad showed no fear early on as they gave the Otters plenty of trouble in build up. The Seawolves defended in groups and forced some turnovers in Monterey Bay's half to generate early chances on goal. In the 14th minute sophomore midfielders
Jvon Cunningham and
Jose Rios Lara picked an Otters midfielder deep in their half and Cunningham would wind up with the loose ball. He would try to spring fellow winger
Patrick Neill down the left sideline but a deflection would send the ball back to Cunningham inside the box where he would have a clear left footed shot on goal, but a necessary save from Monterey Bay's keeper would put the ball out for a corner.
On the ensuing corner, the ball would be whipped into the back post for senior
Sean Rohane who wound up for a deep header beyond the penalty spot that ended up rattling off the crossbar and sent out for another SSU corner. On the team's third straight corner kick, the Seawolves would break through with a fabulous near post header from sophomore
Cypress Navarro-Acio to give them a 1-0 lead over the 15th ranked Otters. Cunningham would assist on the goal and Acio would record his first goal as a Seawolf as he ran to the bench to celebrate with his teammates. After a quality showing in last weekend's game against Cal Poly Pomona, Acio would earn his second straight start and make a huge impact with the opening goal.
Sonoma State continued to make things tough on the Monterey Bay offense as center backs
Lucas English and
Ian Reis held down the fort for the remainder of the half. SSU matched the Otters with five shots in the first half and keeper
Reinier ter Riet was only forced to make one save.
FINAL SSU 2-0 CSUMB
In the second half, the Otters showcased their offensive threat as they outshot the Seawolves 10-6 and forced some crucial saves from ter Riet. The game was opening up quite a bit and SSU knew if they could grab a second goal it could shut the door. That second goal would come in a quick transition moment just five minutes in the second half.
During an Otters attack,
Cypress Navarro-Acio would step in and clear a through ball deep into Monterey's end. A big bouncing ball would allow
Jose Rios Lara to chase it down and challenge the defender. Lara would use his leverage to get inside the Otters defender and secure possession just outside the 18-yard box. After facing up the defender, Lara would hesitate and drag the ball to his right with a perfectly weighted touch to get by the defender and give him a quality look at goal. From the right side, Lara would stutter to freeze the keeper and then roll a right footed shot into the back of the net to double the Seawolves lead.
Residing from Seaside, the hometown kid would record a huge insurance goal for SSU that would eventually lead to a massive upset over the 15th ranked team in the country.
Reinier ter Riet would continue his sensational game with seven big saves in the second half as the Otters continued to pepper the net.
Head coach
Marcus Ziemer would use nine players off his bench to see out the game and get direct contributions from several of them including
Alejandro Zarate,
Michael Gray and freshman
Caleb Yoon. ter Riet would finish with a season high eight saves and record his first shutout of the season. Sonoma State took a big step forward in getting back to the conference tournament with their win over 15th ranked Monterey Bay and will look to sweep the weekend for the first time this season on Sunday.
LOOKING AHEAD
The Seawolves improve to 3-5-2 overall and 1-2 in conference play after their upset win over Cal State Monterey Bay. They will stay on the road but return to the bay area to take on San Francisco State on Sunday, October 8th. Kickoff is scheduled for 2:00 PM and live stats and ticket links can be found at sonomaseawolves.com.
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