Sept. 25, 2009
SAN DIEGO -
Junior Raymundo Reza (Denver, Colo.) scored two goals and assisted on another to lift the San Diego State men's soccer team to a 4-2 victory over No. 6 UC Santa Barbara Friday afternoon at SDSU Sports Deck. The win stretched the Aztecs' (2-2-2) unbeaten streak to four games.
The victory over the Gauchos (5-2-1), who won the national championship in 2006 and came into the weekend ranked sixth in the nation by Top Drawer Soccer, No. 7 by NSCAA, No. 9 by Soccer Times, No. 11 by Soccer America and No. 13 by College Soccer News, puts SDSU 5-1-3 against top-10 teams since it joined the Pac-10 in 2005. It is the highest-ranked team San Diego State has beaten since a 3-1 win over No. 6 California on Oct. 27, 2006 and the second-highest in head coach Lev Kirshner's 10-year tenure (the Aztecs beat fourth-ranked Washington, 1-0, on Oct. 1, 2006).
SDSU, which has now scored 11 goals over its last four matches after managing just one over its first two, struck first in the 22nd minute when Reza was on the receiving end of a brilliant play by junior Khadim Diouf (Dakar, Senegal). On the play, Diouf beat a UCSB defender and slid a pass to a breaking Reza, who calmly touched it into the right-corner from about 10 yards.
UC Santa Barbara, playing its first game at San Diego State since the Aztecs became a fully-funded program and joined the Pac-10, answered at the 27:42 mark when Luis Silva got through the defense and finished a 1-v-1 against redshirt junior goalkeeper Brad Byrns (Alamo, Calif.).
SDSU responded less than four minutes later thanks to a heads-up play by Reza and redshirt senior Jamel Wallace (San Diego/Oceanside, Calif.). After Reza was taken down just outside the 18-yard box, causing Gaucho Machael David to receive a yellow card, Reza flicked a ball over the UCSB wall to a streaking Wallace. Wallace, who redshirted the 2006 season when San Diego State lost twice at UC Santa Barbara, including the first round NCAA tournament match, corralled Reza's pass and sent it into the right corner from eight yards out.
It appeared the Aztecs were going to go into halftime with a 3-1 advantage when senior Evan Toft (Aurora, Colo.) scored on a long throw-in by Reza in the waning moments. The goal, however, was waved off because of a SDSU handball and the score would remain 2-1, San Diego State, after 45 minutes.
At the break, the Aztecs had all three corner kicks, while owning a 5-4 shot advantage (3-1 on net).
The Gauchos wasted no time tying the match in the second half as Michael Nonni took a pass from Peter McGlynn and fired it off the far post from 15 yards at 46:00.
In the 61st minute, freshman Jose Altamirano (San Diego/Southwest HS) laid a pass back to Reza on a set piece. Reza pushed it to his right and drilled a 23-yard attempt off a UCSB defender and into the right-corner for the eventual game-winner and his second tally of the day.
At the 71:43 mark, redshirt sophomore Andre Acevedo (San Diego/Eastlake HS) sent in a free kick over the Gaucho wall and just over the crossbar, which would have put the game out of reach.
Toft would do the trick in the 76th minute after receiving a pass from freshman Morgan Sacco (Greeley, Colo.) and ripping a 22-yard shot from the middle of the field into the left-corner. It was Toft's third goal of the season and Sacco's third assist.
Waid Ibrahim had UCSB's last quality chance in the 83rd minute when he got free on a breakaway. Byrns was there, however, to make the diving stop and secure SDSU's first victory over UC Santa Barbara since 1998.
San Diego State won the corner kick battle by a healthy 6-1 margin, but was edged in shots, 13-9.
Reza led the way for the Aztecs with a game-high four attempts (three on net). Acevedo, Altamirano, Toft, Wallace and sophomore Daniel Steres (Calabasas, Calif.) each added one shot apiece.
Byrns (2-2-1) made a game-high six saves in 90 minutes for the victors, while the Gauchos' Sam Hayden (5-2-1) had one save.
SDSU's defense, which played without starter Justin Davies (San Diego/Brooks School (Mass.)), played well in the back to limit UCSB to many long non-threatening attempts. Senior College Soccer News preseason All-American Nick Cardenas (Thornton, Colo.), redshirt senior Steve Beitashour (San Jose, Calif.), Steres and Wallace earned the starting duties in the backline, and were joined at times by Acevedo (41 minutes), redshirt sophomore Gemechu Abraham (Beaverton, Ore.) and redshirt freshman Chance Marden (Fremont, Calif.).
San Diego State wraps up its play in the Nike Aztec Soccer Classic at noon Sunday against Princeton (4-2), which fell to nationally ranked UC Irvine (6-2) by a 2-1 margin earlier Friday. The Anteaters and Gauchos will meet at 6:30 p.m. Sunday in Santa Barbara in the other Classic contest.
MAN OF THE MATCH: Junior Raymundo Reza earned his first Man of the Match honor of the season after scoring two goals and assisting on another in the Aztecs' 4-2 triumph over No. 6 UC Santa Barbara. The Denver, Colo., native, whose 20 points on eight goals and four assists a year ago were the most by a SDSU player since 1996, also set game-highs in shots (four) and shots on goal (three) over 77 minutes. Reza scored the game-winner and now has three goals and two assists for eight points this season.