LA JOLLA, Calif. - The UC San Diego men's soccer team dropped a 2-0 decision to defending national champion Cal State Dominguez Hills on Sunday afternoon. The defeat marks the end of the 2009 season for the Tritons, who finish with an overall record of 7-9-4 while going 4-9-3 in the California Collegiate Athletic Association.
Prior to the match, UCSD honored the accomplishments of eight graduating student-athletes - Peter Akman, Tony Choi, Scott Gressard, Chris Gutierrez, Kyle Parton, Daniel Pavitt, Mikel Samaniego and Jonathan Sawyer. Among all the achievements earned by the group, Akman ranks No. 1 all-time in the Triton record books in saves while Choi leads UCSD in assists at the Division II level.
During Sunday's match, the Tritons managed to keep the CSUDH offense at bay through the early going as the two squads entered halftime tied at 0-0. The Toros struck though in the 73rd and 81st minutes with scores from Andrew Marinez and Scott Mariano, securing the victory in the regular season finale before they travel to compete in the CCAA Championships next week on the campus of Cal State Stanislaus. In a first-round matchup, the Toros will challenge Cal State San Bernardino at 4:30 p.m. Friday. Coverage of the CCAA Championships can be found at www.goccaa.org.
Freshman forward Evan Walker put together an early chance for UCSD. With roughly 14 minutes played, Walker went up for a header inside the box with CSUDH freshman goalkeeper Markus Dickerson charging out of the net to punch the ball away. Walker's head earned contact first but the attempt sailed wide.
Four minutes later, the Toros rallied for their own scoring chance. With Hiram Rangel placing a through ball to atop the 18, Mariano tried to lift the ball over an approaching Akman. The Triton keeper batted the ball and then stopped a sliding rebound chance by Mariano to keep the match scoreless.
Out of the halftime break, the UCSD offense used strong passing to put more pressure on Dickerson. Gressard placed a long pass over the CSUDH backline that found Sawyer charging up the left side. A one-timer shot off Sawyer's left foot was saved by Dickerson though to stop the rush.
The Toros broke the deadlock at the 72:43 mark with Brian Alvarez slipping a ball to the left of the box that found Marinez, who then made a move on his defender to the right and shot over Akman from about 14 yards out.
Less than eight minutes later, CSUDH tallied its second score of the match. After a leading pass from Alex Munoz, Mariano took on his defender on the left side of the box and shot a low line drive into the bottom of the net from about 12 yards away to give the Toros a 2-0 advantage.
With CSUDH outshooting UCSD 23-15, Akman ended with eight saves in the final match of his Triton career.
In the 20 matches of the 2009 season, UCSD finishes with 20 goals scored and 22 goals allowed. Junior midfielder Shane Micheil led the team in scoring with four goals and three assists. In 2010, the Tritons will return seven of their 11 starters.
