Sept. 7, 2007
SAN DIEGO - The No. 22 San Diego State men's soccer team had a season-high 26 shot attempts but none found the back of the net in a 2-0 loss to New Jersey Institute of Technology Friday afternoon at SDSU Sports Deck. With the loss, the Aztecs fell to 0-2-1, while the Highlanders improved to 1-1-0 with the victory.
SDSU's offense, which had the ball in the NJIT's side of the field most of the game, came out firing after the opening whistle and had many good chances to take an early lead.
San Diego State's first good chance to score came in the 25th minute when junior Kevin Werbner dribbled through the open field and blasted a shot from 22 yards out that was deflected away by NJIT goalkeeper Josh Osit.
Less then a minute later, redshirt sophomore Jamel Wallace (San Diego, Calif./Oceanside HS) had his header from seven yards away just miss the far post, keeping the game at 0-0.
In the 32nd minute, redshirt senior co-captain Kraig Chiles (San Diego, Calif./Poway HS) took a cross and ripped a shot that narrowly missed the left post.
It appeared the Aztecs got on the scoreboard at the 33:23 mark when Wallace knocked in a cross from sophomore Evan Toft. Wallace, however, was ruled offsides and the goal was disallowed.
SDSU would head into the halftime intermission with a 15-5 advantage in shots and 3-1 lead in corner kicks.
The second half was more of the same for San Diego State as junior Danny Ortiz had the team's first shot just 45 seconds into the period, yet the Aztecs were still unable to put the ball away.
In the 57th minute, Chiles took a through ball from redshirt sophomore Steve Beitashour inside the penalty box but had his shot to the near post pushed away by a diving Osit.
The Highlanders took advantage of their first good scoring opportunity 21:04 into the second half when Gustav Warfving slid a ball across the goal mouth to Erik Magnusson who touched it into a wide-open net, giving NJIT a 1-0 lead.
After the Highlanders got their goal, SDSU played an even more aggressive style and continued to fire shots that would just miss the crossbar and posts.
As the Aztecs were pushing for the equalizer late in the match, Magnusson scored his second of the game on a similar play as the first goal. Kevin Blanco was credited with the assist on the tally, which came at the 88:53 mark.
San Diego State outshot NJIT, 26-11, for the match and had seven corner kicks to the Highlanders' two.
Chiles had a game-high and career-high nine shots to lead the Aztecs, while Wallace had five attempts and Beitashour contributed three. Toft and Werbner added two shots apiece.
SDSU redshirt freshman Brad Byrns, making his second career start, made three saves, including a stop on a semi-breakaway chance by Magnusson midway through the first half.
NJIT's Osit had seven saves.
San Diego State will continue its play in The Soccer Post/Aztec this Sunday, when it welcomes Fairleigh Dickinson. Kickoff is set for 2 p.m.
MAN OF THE MATCH: Raymundo Reza earned Man of the Match honors for his brilliant play as a defender and in the midfield. A freshman, Reza played 85 minutes and helped limit NJIT to five shots on goal.