UCSD Men Stay Unbeaten With Draw at CUI, 0-0

September 17, 2016

IRVINE, Calif. - The University of California San Diego men's soccer team completed the non-conference portion of its schedule with a scoreless stalemate against Concordia University Irvine at Eagles Field on Saturday afternoon.

Playing its first road contest of 2016 after a lengthy and perfect season-opening home slate, UC San Diego moved to a still-unbeaten 5-0-1. Pacific West Conference (PacWest) side Concordia went to 1-1-2. It was a fourth straight California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) opponent for the Eagles.

UCSD goalkeeper Cameron McElfresh finished with three saves in posting his third individual clean sheet of the year. The fifth-year senior now has 22 for his career, matching former All-American teammate Josh Cohen's program record for the NCAA Division II era (since 2000).

For the Tritons as a squad, it was a fourth successive shutout. They have now kept opponents scoreless for a total of 454:03, and boast a CCAA-best goals-against average of 0.31.

"I thought they did well," said UC San Diego head coach Jon Pascale about his men. "This is a tricky place to play, on a narrow, turf field against a solid team, but I felt once we sorted a couple of things out, we got better as the game got on. I thought we had more chances to win. We didn't give them any easy opportunities to get the goal. I would have liked to walk away from here with the result. I thought we played well enough to deserve it, but that's the way it goes sometimes."

Both teams had definitive chances over the course of an active first half. Seven minutes in, McElfresh had to get down and get a hand on a shot that took an odd hop on the artificial turf. The action stayed on the Eagles' offensive end momentarily, as a flurry occurred in the six-yard box, but junior left back Nolan Mac sacrificed his body to thwart the effort at the base of the left post.

UCSD began from there to assert itself. Justice Duerksen's free kick from the left side curled over the wall and was saved at the near post by the CUI goalkeeper, out to a corner kick. Zachary Lagotta (San Diego/Cathedral Catholic HS) made a nice run down the right flank and crossed in, but Nathaniel Bloom's (Encinitas/San Dieguito HS Academy) shot was blocked. Later, Nick Palano found Christian Cordell wide on the right, and the sophomore winger crossed from there, but Uly de la Cal's glancing header in the middle went just wide to the left of the target.

Connor navigated a strong path through the penalty area around the midway point, but McElfresh charged forward and dove at the ball to snuff out the threat.

The Tritons largely controlled the second half, but couldn't find the decisive maneuver to take away the victory over those 45 minutes, or the 20 of overtime. In the 54th, Duerksen hit Mac on an overlapping run down the left, and a left-sided cross was directed wide of the right post by Sam Palano. UCSD out-shot the Eagles on the day, 13-9, including 4-0 in the extra periods.

Jordan Brinkley had four stops in the CUI net.

The heat was clearly a factor over 110 minutes of play, exacerbated by the turf.

Joining McElfresh and Mac among the Triton back five were Jeff Powers and Kuba Waligorski, both of whom also played the full 110 minutes. Junior center back Kyle Panganiban was forced to exit after a rash challenge in the 32nd, with true freshman Kelvin Uribe not missing a beat in his absence over the remainder.

"It's such a nice luxury to have, to be able to use a number of guys and know the level is not going to drop," added Pascale about his team's depth. "We maintain the level that we start the game with. We're in a position where we can absorb a couple of injuries and still have really good quality on the field. I don't think too many teams have that. It was the difference today. As the game went on, you saw us more on the front foot."

UCSD makes an even shorter trip north on Wednesday, Sept. 21, to open CCAA play at city rival Cal State San Marcos. Kickoff in The Cage is slated for 3 p.m., after the women's game gets things started at 12:30 p.m.

"Conference is always a grind," concluded Pascale. "We know that. Every game, top to bottom, will be a grind. We open up at San Marcos. They're going to be tough. It's always a good game when we play them. Another difficult environment to play in. I think we'll be ready."

Triton Notes: UCSD still leads the all-time series, 2-1-1 ... The Tritons were at Concordia for the first time for an official fall meeting, with the previous three matchups all in La Jolla, although they had played there in prior spring competition ... Saturday marked not only UCSD's first road activity of 2016, but was also played on artificial turf ... It was the Tritons' first game on turf since a 2-2 draw at Humboldt State last Oct. 16 ... UCSD completed the six-game non-conference slate with 12 goals after managing just 15 in 18 contests in 2015, with Saturday the first time it has been held scoreless ... Sophomore Nathaniel Bloom earned his first collegiate start at a forward spot ... Bloom had tallied his first career goal in the 2015 home date with Concordia, just 46 seconds after entering the game off the bench ... Malek Bashti was not available, while redshirt senior right back Brett Sampiere missed his fifth straight match ... Eric Young came off the bench during the first overtime for his first appearance since the Sept. 1 opener ... Starters Kyle Panganiban and Jonathan Stoop came off due to injury and did not return ... It was UCSD's second overtime match of 2016, with the Tritons now 1-0-1 in such games.

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