SAN FRANCISCO – For 87 minutes, Cal State San Bernardino's men's soccer team had kept San Francisco State off the scoreboard while trying to preserve a 1-0 lead the Yotes secured early in the match Sunday.
But, the Gators' persistent attacks late in the second half, produced a goal at 87:53 to end the Yotes chances for its first win since Oct. 1 and the result was a 1-1 CCAA conference tie.
These teams have been very competitive since their all-time series started in 1991, the year that the Yotes won their only CCAA conference title. CSUSB leads the series 12-11 with five ties, including Sunday's draw.
CSUSB returns home for matches on Friday and Sunday at Premier Field during Homecoming week with a 5-5-4 overall record, 2-4-2 in the CCAA. The Gators are 3-8-3 overall and 1-5-2 in the CCAA with three matches remaining in the regular season.
The Yotes'
Victor Chavez, a graduate student from Santa Barbara, scored the first goal of his CSUSB career in the 14
th minute of the match off an assist from
Martin Garcia, his first of the season.
This was the Yotes' first goal since the 68
th minute of the Oct. 6 2—2 tie with Stanislaus State, a span of 380-plus minutes which included four CCAA shutouts in a row.
The go-ahead goal came after the Yotes' goalkeeper
Mark Gamez of Montebello saved a shot by the Gators' Javier Espinal-Perez a minute earlier, one of six saves he would make in the match.
SFSU outshot the Yotes 12-10 but nine of those 12 shots came in the second half, requiring Gamez to save four of them, but Emerson Trujillo saved the day for the Gators with the tying goal at 87:53, his fourth tally of the season.
CSUSB produced 10 shots in the match but only two were on target – the goal by Chavez and a save by SFSU keeper Fernando Escobedo Guzman on
Brian Castillo's try in the 20
th minute of the first half.
The Gators outshot the Yotes 9-4 in the second half after CSUSB had six tries in the first half to just three for the hosts, playing in front of 178 fans at Cox Stadium.
UP NEXT: Cal State San Marcos (7-5-3, 4-2-2 CCAA) at 12:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 27. Cal State East Bay (7-5-3, 2-4-2 CCAA), 11:30 a.m. Sunday, Oct. 29. Both matches at Premier Field on campus. Regular season finale is Thursday, Nov. 2, at 11:30 a.m. at Premier Field on campus Vs. Cal Poly Pomona (9-1-4, 5-1-2 CCAA) and ranked No. 12 in NCAA Div. II. It will be Seniors Day. Follow the Yotes live stats at csusbathletics.com or watch via streaming video on the CCAA network.
