LA JOLLA, Calif. - The UC San Diego men's soccer team put together a resilient effort Friday, tying the match in the 75th minute, but a Cal State San Bernardino score at the 84:50 mark dealt the Tritons a tough 2-1 defeat.
Playing in the mist of a thick coastal fog, the Coyotes got on the board in the 69th minute. The Tritons countered at the 74:23 mark with junior midfielder Shane Micheil blasting a shot to the upper left of the net from 30 yards away after the ball had been deflected out from the 18 area from junior defender Jared Kukura. The score from Micheil was his fourth of the season.
Ten minutes later, CSUSB forward Danny Rodriguez knocked in the eventual game-winner, lining a low shot to the right of UCSD senior goalkeeper Peter Akman from the top of the 18 after receiving a pass from Albert Cabrera. The win gives the Coyotes a 9-3-1 CCAA record, good for a second-place tie with defending national champion Cal State Dominguez Hills in the league's South Division. The Tritons fall to 7-6-4 overall and 4-6-3 in conference play.
Toward the midway point in the first half, CSUSB came close to getting on the board early. A deflection bounced the ball up in the offensive zone for sophomore midfielder Billy Pellow to go one-on-one with Akman. As Pellow tried to place a shot to the right of Akman, the Tritons' netminder got just enough of his glove on the ball to push it to the left of the net.
After the Coyotes took a 12-4 shot advantage into halftime, the play between the two squads began to even out more in the second half. The CSUSB offense was the first to score though when junior forward Obi Agwu fired in a shot at the 68:58 mark. Making a few individual moves on his defender from outside the box, Agwu shot from 25 yards out to the right of Akman, with the ball hitting the inside of the left post and rolling into the net.
The Tritons had an earlier chance to tie up the match at 1-1 when freshman Kian Malek took a corner kick from the right side. Senior defender Chris Guttierez, finding open space on the left side of the formation, took a hard header toward the net. CSUSB goalkeeper Arath De La Rocha batted it away and a rebound shot from UCSD midfielder Jonathan Sawyer was blocked by a defender and sent out of the area.
With the Micheil and Kukura connection leading to an equalizing score, the momentum gained from the Coyotes' earlier goal had been temporarily squashed. The shot from Rodriguez at the 84:50 mark from the top of the 18 sent CSUSB up 2-1 though and the visiting Coyotes held on for the win.
The UCSD squad looks to break its three-game losing streak on Sunday when it hosts Cal Poly Pomona at 2:30 p.m. The Broncos, at 6-6-1 in CCAA play, are four points ahead of the Tritons in the South Division standings. CPP defeated Cal State East Bay in Hayward on Friday, 1-0.
