Senior Jeremiah Marquez, left, heads a ball away from Cal State L.A. defender during NCAA West Regional semifinal match Friday night in Los Angeles.
11/13/2009 11:12:42 PM
LOS ANGELES -- Cal State L.A., ranked No.1 in the West Region, pulled away from Cal State San Bernardino with a pair of goals in the final 12 minutes of the match to defeat the Coyotes, 5-3, Friday night in the NCAA Division II West Region semifinal on the Golden Eagles field.
CSUSB closes out its outstanding 2009 season with a 15-6-1 record and two post-season appearances, including their first NCAA regional match in 18 years.
The host Golden Eagles, ranked No. 1 in the West Region and No. 7 in the nation, are now 18-3-1 and advance to Sunday's regional title match to face defending Division II national champion Cal State Dominguez Hills, which throttled Sonoma State, 3-0, in Friday's other semifinal.
The Coyotes took an early 1-0 lead at 14:58 of the first half on senior Daniel Rodriguez' ninth goal of the season, assisted by sophomore DJ Vigil, taking a cross from Vigil and heading the ball into the left corner of the goal.
L.A. got the equalizer on a goal by Aza Gomez, his seventh of the season, at 25:08, heading in a corner kick off the foot of Mauricio Barrett. The Golden Eagles made it 2-1 just 33 seconds later in the same fashion -- Gomez heading in a corner kick by Kristian Gaustad.
L.A. went up 3-1 at 30:13 on yet another header off a corner kick by Gaustad, this goal by Federico Cino, his 11th of the season.
CSUSB apparently picked up on this sort of strategy and responded at 41:10 as senior defender Mark Peters headed in a corner kick off the foot of senior Brock Steele to close the gap to 3-2 at intermission.
The Coyotes tied the match at 77:33 on a penalty kick by junior forward Obi Agwu, his 11th goal of the season.
However, the Golden Eagles regained the lead less than a minute later as Gomez nailed down a hat trick with his third goal of the match and eighth of the season , collecting the rebound of a missed shot and putting in the net.
A potential tying goal off the foot of CSUSB senior defender Ryan Larson was wide at 87:17.
Twenty-eight seconds later, L.A. got the match-clinching goal by Cino on a chip shot over CSUSB goalkeeper Arath DeLaRocha at 87:45.
The Coyotes had several offensive attacks blunted by offsides calls -- nine to be exact -- as the Golden Eagles employed a trapping defense.
CAL STATE L.A. 5, CAL STATE SAN BERNARDINO 3
NCAA West Regional semifinal at Cal State LA
CSUSB goals: Danny Rodriguez, Mark Peters, Obi Agwu. Assists: Brock Steele, DJ Vigil.
CSULA goals: Aza Gomez (3), Frederico Cino (2). Assists: Kristian Gaustad (2), Mauricio Barrett, Brennen Brodersen.
Goalie saves: Jose Martinez (LA) 3; Arath DeLaRocha (CSUSB) 4.
Shots: CSUSB 13; CSULA 22
Corner kicks: CSUSB 3; CSULA 7
Fouls: CSUSB 15, CSULA 16
Offsides: CSUSB 9, Cal State L.A. 1