Oct. 27, 2006
Game Archive
SAN DIEGO - The San Diego State men's soccer team scored the first three goals of the game en route to a 3-1 win over No. 6 California Friday afternoon at SDSU Sports Deck. With the win, the Aztecs (8-5-3, 4-2-2 Pac-10) swept the season series against the Bears (11-4-1, 6-2-0 Pac-10). Both of Cal's Pac-10 losses have come against SDSU.
San Diego State is now 6-3-3 in its last 12 games, including a 3-2 record against nationally ranked opponents during the same span.
Junior Kraig Chiles scored twice and freshman Nick Cardenas added a goal for the Aztecs, who controlled play from the kick off and had numerous scoring chances throughout the match.
Freshman Evan Toft had SDSU's first good chance in the 28th minute but his blast from just outside the penalty box was stopped by a diving Justin Myers. A short time later, junior Freddy McDonald gathered a ball that bounced out of the box and drilled a shot to the lower-right corner before a Bear defender knocked it our of harm's way.
In the 25th minute, a header by Cardenas off the foot of Chiles was saved by Myers and deflected out by a Cal defender.
The Aztecs would get on the scoreboard on the ensuing play. On a throw-in, sophomore Dennis Sanchez faked a long throw and tossed it to freshman defender Steve Beitashour. Beitashour passed it back to Sanchez who then sent a cross into the penalty box. Cardenas beat Myers to the ball and headed in his fourth goal of the season.
SDSU would go into the halftime with a 9-4 lead in shots and 2-1 advantage in corner kicks.
The Aztecs came out of intermission with the same fire and had many scoring chances early. In the 51st minute, sophomore Omar Persad was fouled by a Bear defender, which set up a free kick. Chiles took the free kick and bent it around Cal's defensive wall and into the upper-right corner of the net.
In the 80th minute, freshman Daniel Ortega broke free on an SDSU counterattack but had his hard shot from the left side stopped by Myers.
At the 87:40 mark, Aztec sophomore Nick Collins was taken down in the penalty box has he tried to beat a Cal defender. Chiles stepped up and calmly sank his sixth goal of the season to give SDSU a 3-0 lead.
The Bears got their goal just 23 seconds later when an Aztec defender was charged with a handball inside the penalty box. Nick Hatzke made his shot into the right side of the net for the final tally of the game. Prior to the penalty kick, Cal's best chance in the 17th minute when Andrew Jacobson's shot from 30 yards out hit the crossbar and went out of bounds.
Five players - Cardenas, Chiles, Toft, McDonald and senior Raul Bautista - each had two shot attempts for SDSU.
Senior goalkeeper Tally Hall, a 2005 All-American, played all 90 minutes in net for the Aztecs and made four saves. Myers played 86:16 for Cal and had five stops, while teammate Mike Oseguera played the final 3:44 without recording a save.
SDSU will play host to Stanford at 1 p.m. Sunday in its final home match of the season. A pre-game ceremony will recognize the Aztecs' seven seniors - Raul Bautista, Nick Clemens, Robbie Diaz, Andrew DiCicco, Tally Hall, Ryan Reott and Luis Trejo.
MEN OF THE MATCH: The entire team was named Men of the Match by head coach Lev Kirshner for its outstanding game, both offensively and defensively.
NOTES: SDSU is now 7-1-1 at home this season and 16-2-3 over its last 21 home matches ... The Aztecs are 3-3-0 against nationally ranked opponents this season ... SDSU is 8-1-1 when scoring first and a perfect 5-0-0 when leading at halftime ... The Aztecs are 7-0-0 this year when MF Kraig Chiles records a point and 4-0 when he scores at least one goal ... Chiles is also perfect (3-for-3) on penalty kick attempts this season ... Chiles has started 35 consecutive games dating back to last year, the longest such streak on the team ... All four of D Nick Cardenas' goals this year have been headers.