UCSD Men Blanked at SF State

October 19, 2014

SAN FRANCISCO - The UC San Diego men’s soccer team was blanked by SF State, 2-0, in a California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) match Sunday at Cox Stadium.

UCSD dropped to 9-4-2 overall and 4-2-2 in the CCAA. The Tritons began the day an undefeated 3-0-2 in the month of October, and have now reached the halfway mark of a season-long four-match road stretch. SF State moved to an even 6-6-2 overall and 2-5-1 in league play. The Gators were losers of five straight going in, with three successive shutout defeats.

UCSD was an unbeaten 6-0-2 against SF State over the eight prior match-ups, including 3-0-1 over its last four trips to San Francisco since a 1-0 loss in 2005.

The action came fast and furious for openers. A mere 49 seconds in, Jakob Velega of SFSU hit the post with the first shot of the contest. In the third minute, UCSD’s Sam Palano forced the first save of the day out of Gator goalie Daniel Boyer, right before fellow sophomore Malek Bashti’s effort was cleared off of the line by a defender.

Within the first eight minutes, UCSD was already at four shots, with Brandon Bauman adding one that was blocked, and center back Kuba Waligorski heading Gerrit van Zyll’s corner kick over the frame.

It was the home side, however, that finally dented the scoreboard in the 39th minute, when Kevin Johnson handled a cross from substitute Matias Rodriguez and deposited his shot into the upper left for his third goal of the season and a 1-0 lead. The Tritons had not allowed a goal to SFSU at Cox in exactly 438:05, and were on a shutout string of 312:50 overall this year prior to Johnson’s strike.

The Gators doubled the advantage in the 56th minute, after gaining a free kick from a foul call just outside the 18-yard box on the left side. Sam Merritt stepped up and perfectly looped a hard, right-footed shot into the upper right corner beyond the stretch of Triton goalie Cameron McElfresh. It was also his third of the campaign.

McElfresh made two saves in goal for the Tritons. Boyer, like McElfresh a junior, had two stops of his own for the Gators.

UCSD, which held a slim 11-10 edge in shots, equaled its season high by earning 10 corner kicks, with six taken by van Zyll and four by freshman winger Sean Pleskow.

Triton freshman Zachary Lagotta (San Diego/Cathedral Catholic HS) returned to the pitch as a second-half substitute after missing Friday’s draw at Monterey Bay.

UCSD is back on the road next weekend, at Sonoma State on Friday, Oct. 24, and Humboldt State on Sunday, Oct. 26.

#TritonsRising