TURLOCK, Calif. - Senior striker Sam Palano fired into the bottom left corner 3:30 into overtime to give the 10th-ranked University of California San Diego men's soccer team a 2-1 victory over Sonoma State in the 2016 California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) Tournament final Sunday at Warrior Stadium on the campus of host Stanislaus State.
For top-seeded UC San Diego, the result meant a first-ever CCAA Tournament title, to go along with its first CCAA championship from the regular season. The Tritons move to 16-2-2 overall. Second seed Sonoma State dropped to 10-4-5.
The decisive play began with Cameron McElfresh plucking a flicked header by Andrew Ogilvy out of the air. The fifth-year Triton goalkeeper played ahead to fellow senior Riley Harbour, who in turn found redshirt junior striker Malek Bashti. Bashti dribbled about 10 yards down the right flank and played a short, almost-squad pass to his left to Palano, who took a left-footed touch to settle before hammering a right-footed shot from the edge of the penalty area for his team-best sixth. It was Bashti's seventh assist, which ties him for the team lead with Palano.
It was a just finish and reward for what was arguably one of UCSD's best performances of the season, especially after going down a goal. Remarkably, the Tritons have now turned a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 triumph six times this season. They are an unbeaten 4-0-2 in overtime contests and 11-1-1 over their last 13.
The Tritons came out with a quick corner kick earned by Justice Duerksen within the initial minute. The winger took it, with fellow senior Riley Harbour laying off nicely at the near post for junior left back Nolan Mac, whose left-footed effort on the ground rolled just wide to the right. It was a physical first 10-plus minutes that saw seven combined fouls called.
About a half an hour in, reserve forward Uly de la Cal produced some strong work on the right side and put a ball across that Harbour was barely late to connect to. Seconds later, a Sonoma State back pass took an awkward bounce on junior goalkeeper Mitch North, with his clearance attempt trickling back for a corner kick.
At 34:07, Sonoma State was awarded a penalty kick for a foul in the penalty box on a play that didn't look like it was really even going to cause a danger for McElfresh. Junior center back Eric Alvarado powered his attempt into the upper right for a 1-0 Seawolf advantage.
UCSD almost had enough time to tie it before the interval. Nick Palano's left-sided cross was deflected off the head of a defender, all the way to the back post, where Harbour nodded it from close range, only for the shot to be cleared off the line by Alvarado to preserve that narrow edge.
In the 57th minute, Sam Palano sent Bashti in toward goal, with the big forward's strength allowing him to beat the Seawolf center back into the path of the ball. His left-footed shot, however, was saved by North, diving low to his left.
The Tritons found their equalizer in the 66th. A right-sided de la Cal throw-in was headed up into the air by a Sonoma State defender. With his back to goal on the right diagonal, true freshman holding central midfielder Jonathan Stoop produced a right-footed overhead kick with his left foot on the ground, and the ball looped into the left-side netting for his first collegiate goal.
A scrum in the box moments later resulted in a Sam Palano shot from around the penalty spot that was blocked away by the traffic in front of him. With 13 minutes to go in regulation, Eric Young got his foot to a right-sided Christian Cordell cross, but that, too, was deflected away for another Triton corner kick. The ensuing try by Duerksen was headed wide by Mac as UCSD continued its assault on the SSU goal.
McElfresh, the CCAA Defensive Player of the Year, collected one save. Junior Mitch North wound up with two stops for Sonoma State.
Palano was the CCAA Tournament Most Valuable Offensive Player for his winning goal, with senior center back Kuba Waligorski the Most Valuable Defensive Player. Joining them on the All-Tournament Team were de la Cal, Duerksen, Harbour and McElfresh.
UC San Diego flies out of Oakland back to La Jolla on Monday morning, and will then await the official announcement later that day of the 38-team field for the 2016 NCAA Championship. The selection show will air live on NCAA.com at 3:30 p.m. PT. The Tritons have most assuredly earned the right to host one half of the NCAA West Regional in the coming week. They are an undefeated 9-0-1 at Triton Soccer Stadium in 2016. Check back at UCSDtritons.com for details.
Triton Notes: UCSD is 4-6-2 over its nine CCAA Tournament appearances, including 1-2 against Sonoma State and 1-2 in finals ... The Tritons previously lost CCAA finals in 2003 in Carson to Chico State (5-1), and 2013 at Warrior Stadium in Turlock to Cal State LA (1-0) ... They had not met Sonoma State in the CCAA tourney since a 3-1 semifinal defeat in Turlock over a decade ago in 2005 ... UCSD is 7-2-1 outside of La Jolla in 2016 ... The 16 wins are the Tritons' most since going 21-2-1 during their last Division III national-title season in 1993 ... UCSD has surrendered three penalty kicks and subsequently three penalty-kick goals, over its last four matches ... Uly de la Cal's assist on the equalizer was his sixth ... Malek Bashti made his return to the field, and the starting lineup, after a one-game injury absence Friday ... Two-time UCSD All-American goalkeeper and two-time CCAA Defensive Player of the Year Josh Cohen was again among the support on hand.
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