LOS ANGELES - A 75th-minute penalty-kick goal by Brandon Bauman lifted the UC San Diego men’s soccer team to a key 1-0 triumph over rival Cal State L.A. Friday at Jesse Owens Track in the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) opener for both sides.

The win moved UCSD to 6-2 on the year overall and 1-0 in the CCAA. Cal State L.A. dropped to 4-2 overall and 0-1 in league play.

The result allowed the Tritons at least a brief reprieve from a recent history of frustration against the Golden Eagles. In the last meeting, CSULA had posted a 1-0 victory in the 2013 CCAA Championship final in Turlock last November. UCSD, in fact, was 0-6-1 over the previous seven match-ups, including three straight losses in Los Angeles, since another 1-0 win there on Oct. 10, 2010. Of those six losses, five were by the final score of 1-0, with all three games at CSULA ending that way.

The goal at 74:01 was Bauman’s team-leading third on the year. It came when fellow senior Alessandro Canalewas fouled in the penalty area after gathering a cross by sophomore forward Malek Bashti.

The hosts pressed for a late equalizer, earning a corner kick and taking a pair of shots in the final five minutes, but Andre Bissmark, who scored the 85th-minute winner in the CCAA final, had his effort blocked, before Abel Teferi went wide.

Junior goalkeeper Cameron McElfresh made one save, that to deny Sigifredo Torres in the first half, to notch his third shutout of 2014 and sixth of his career. Senior Mike Beigarten had three stops for the Golden Eagles.

UCSD had a narrow shot advantage on the night, 7-6. Bauman had three, all on target. The contest was largely a defensive stalemate between two powers that boasted top-five back-line units in Division II a year ago in goals-against average, with the Tritons at No. 4 (0.52) and the Golden Eagles at No. 5 (0.54).

“I’m really happy with the way we played tonight,” said UCSD head coach Jon Pascale. “Wins on the road in this conference are tough to come by, especially at a place like Cal State L.A. I’m proud of the effort we put in, a total team performance. I hope we can carry this momentum into Sunday.

“This is a very difficult place to play. We had an excellent first half and managed the game well in the second half. It was pretty evenly played, but we didn’t give them anything and I don’t feel like they had any dangerous chances.”

UCSD now awaits 22nd-ranked and undefeated Cal Poly Pomona (6-0-1) for its CCAA home opener this Sunday, Sept. 28. Kickoff at Triton Soccer Stadium is set for 11:30 a.m. The Broncos entered play Friday as the only team in the NCAA Division II without a goal surrendered in 2014, before rallying to edge Cal State San Bernardino 2-1 at home.

#TritonsRising

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