Sept. 1, 2010
LOS ANGELES -
The San Diego State men's soccer scored first but yielded two late goals in a 2-1 overtime loss at Loyola Marymount Wednesday at Sullivan Field in Los Angeles. The Aztecs, who started four freshmen in a season opener for the first time in head coach Lev Kirshner's 11-year tenure, fell to 0-1-0, while the 2009 NCAA tournament qualifier and 2010 preseason West Coast Conference favorite Lions improved to 1-0-0.
SDSU jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the 56th minute when redshirt junior Andre Acevedo (San Diego/Eastlake HS) took sophomore Jose Altamirano's (San Diego/Southwest HS) free kick from the right side and one-touched it past LMU goalkeeper Jack McCormack. It was the first career goal for Acevedo.
Loyola Marymount answered at the 87:13 mark when Roger Downes finished from six yards out. College Soccer News preseason All-American Rafael Baca began the play by sending in a cross towards the far post to Jonas Reiter. Reiter headed the ball back to Downes, who beat San Diego State redshirt senior goalkeeper Brad Byrns (Alamo, Calif.) and the Aztec defense for the equalizer.
Artur Jozkowicz gave the Lions the win just 55 seconds into the first overtime when his low shot squeezed past Byrns with David Ponce earning the assist.
SDSU had chances as each team had four shots apiece at the half. San Diego State's best chance in the first 45 arguably came in the 10th minute when senior captain Khadim Diouf (Dakar, Senegal) beat a few defenders on the left side and fired a shot right at a game McCormack.
Alex Greenman gave the hosts a chance in the final minute of the first half but his header went over the frame.
Down, 1-0, following Acevedo's goal in the 56th minute, LMU increased its offensive pressure over the final 25 minutes, looking for the equalizer. Its best chance other then the Downes goal came at the 69:34 when Phil Da Silva's header hit the crossbar before an Aztec player cleared the ball out of harm's way. Minutes later, Byrns made a save to his right on a quality attempt by Christian Alvarado.
The score would remain 1-0 until Loyola Marymount finished each of its final chances.
The Lions outshot SDSU, 15-6, with the majority of the attempts coming late in the second half, and won the corner kick battle, 4-2.
Byrns (0-1-1) made three saves in net for San Diego State, while McCormack (1-0-0) had two stops for the Lions.
San Diego State will play host to its alumni in the annual Alumni Game on Saturday at 1 p.m., before traveling across town to meet local derby San Diego at 7 p.m. Sunday.
MAN OF THE MATCH: Redshirt junior Andre Acevedo (San Diego/Eastlake HS) earned Man of the Match honors for scoring his first career goal in the 56th minute off an assist from fellow San Diego native Jose Altamirano (Southwest HS). Acevedo started the opener and played 80 minutes, while leading the team in shots (2) and shots on goal (2).