ROHNERT PARK, CALIF. - On Saturday, September 16th, the Sonoma State men's soccer team returned home for their sixth non-conference match of the season and faced off against PacWest member Biola. Despite some early pressure to start the game, Biola would catch SSU on the counter and go up 1-0 with a goal in the 7th minute. The Eagles would net two more late in the second half to ice the game and record their first win of the season.
FIRST HALF SSU 0-1 BIOLA:
To start the game Sonoma State showcased some quality spells of possession but it would be Biola who would strike first in the 7th minute on a nice ball played in behind SSU's backline. The Eagles forward would find himself one-on-one with keeper
Jack Chapman and from a tight angle, he would rifle a shot high into the near post to give Biola the 1-0 lead.
No more than ten minutes later, Biola started to create some clear chances on goal but SSU keeper
Jack Chapman would make a stellar save off of a corner kick to maintain the one goal deficit. The Eagles would play short on a corner and then whip in a ball which found the foot of a forward who was able to volley a shot on frame. Chapman sprung to his right and was able to push the ball wide to keep it out of the net.
In the 16th minute the Seawolves would have their best chance of the game off of another quality spell of possession. On the left side,
Oswaldo Rojas and
Oliver Ziemer would help win the ball back and play their way out of pressure to regain possession. Then, eight passes later,
Sean Rohane would play a beautiful ball down the right side to a streaking
Jvon Cunningham who would collect the ball and get around the defender just outside the box. A couple of well weighted touches from Cunningham would allow him to drive towards the end line and then his cutback pass would find the feet of
Patrick Neill. Neill would send the right footed attempt past the keeper into the lower right corner but a Biola defender would leak into the goal and clear the shot off the line, maintaining their 1-0 lead.
SECOND HALF SSU 0-3 BIOLA:
Both teams would battle back and forth for much of the second half but Biola would put the game to bed with two quick goals in the 73rd and 75th minute to extend their lead to 3-0. The first of the two goals would come off of a near post run and a quality one-time finish from the Eagles forward. Two minutes later a misplayed ball from a Seawolves defender in build up would send the Eagles forwards onto the counter. A slipped ball into the box would result in another one-time finish giving Biola their third goal of the game.
Sonoma State still recorded ten shots in the match with
Patrick Neill tallying a team high three shots to lead the way. Three freshmen for the Seawolves would come off the bench and play meaningful minutes including some quality play from midfielders
Alejandro Zarate,
Graysen Garber and forward
Diego Angelina De La Cruz. After starting his third straight game in goal,
Jack Chapman would depart for
Reinier ter Riet in the 83rd minute. Chapman finished the game with three saves and leads all SSU keepers with 17 saves on the season.
LOOKING AHEAD:
Sonoma State took their third loss of the season in a 3-0 affair to Biola. The Seawolves will hit the road for their final non-conference match of the season on September 23rd against Cal Poly Humboldt. Kickoff is slated for 12:30 PM and live stats and ticket links can be found at sonomaseawolves.com.
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