TURLOCK -- Cal State San Bernardino's bid for a second CCAA conference men's soccer title came up short Friday as defending NCAA Division II champion Cal State Dominguez Hills scored a goal with 41 seconds left in regulation to defeat the Coyotes 2-1 in the tournament semifinals.
     The loss left the Coyotes with a 15-5-1 record as they wait now for announcement of the four teams that will advance to the NCAA West Regional tournament. That news will come on Monday night. CSUSB is currently ranked No. 3 in the West Region.
      The Toros, who lost both regular season matches to CSUSB by identical 1-0 scores, were down 1-0 midway through the second half but scored twice in the final 15 minutes to deny the Coyotes their first appearance ever in the championship tournament title match.
      Dominguez Hills improved its record to 15-5-1 with the win and will face the winner of the Sonoma State-Cal State L.A. match on Sunday for the conference title.
      This was CSUSB's third trip to the conference tournament in the last seven years and each time they have been denied in the semifinals, first by Chico State in 2003 and then by the same Toros in 2005. Both of those matches went overtime. The Toros won in 2005 by the same score, 2-1.
      Junior forward Obi Agwu broke the scoreless deadlock at 70:36 with his 10th goal of the season, taking a crossing pass from freshmen Demetri Burgos and bouncing a hard shot inside the left post past Toros goalkeeper Markus Dickerson.
      The Toros responded with the equalizer at 75:10 as Greg Piechota notched his sixth goal of the season, collecting a pass from Andrew Marinez and knocking it into the net from close range.
Marinez then scored the match-winner at 89:19, an unassisted goal that followed a throw-in from the touch line. It was his eighth goal of the season and most likely the most important one.
       CSUDH has now won nine matches in a row since bowing 1-0 to the Coyotes in San Bernardino on Oct. 4. 
       The Toros were clearly the aggressors in the match, attempting 24 shots to just eight for the Coyotes. Junior goalkeeper Arath De La Rocha saved nine shots, two went off the goal posts. Five of CSUSB's shots were off target and Dickerson was required to make only two saves.
      A crowd of 194 fans watched the match at the new Cal State Stanislaus soccer-track stadium complex.