The season is winding down, and Cal State LA men’s soccer team celebrated its senior players Saturday, along with a victory, against UC San Diego.
The men’s soccer team has struggled in the past against the Tritons. The birds used this as motivation for the game, and made sure they brought it.
Senior midfielder David Elizaga acknowledged that UC San Diego is a tough team to beat. The last two years the Golden Eagles didn’t get the result they wanted, but Elizaga felt better about the match-up this time.
Leonardo Nogueira, (23), defends the ball against Alessandro Allen (20) from UC San Diego. Cal State LA men’s soccer won against Tritons 1-0.
“The team is strong, we feel better this year and we knew if we did what we had to do, we were going to win and that’s exactly what we did.” Elizaga said.
The eagles played a strong first half with three shots on goal. However, they couldn’t find the back of the net and the first half ended tied at 0-0.
The second half of the game was just as intense as the first; 10 fouls were given to each team, and three yellow cards were handed out.
Cal State LA midfielder Leonardo Nogueira scored the winning goal off an assist by fellow midfielder Carlos Zarate. The game ended as a 1-0 win for the Golden Eagles.
The senior Golden Eagle players also received recognition for the hard work they put in for the team.
Golden Eagle goalkeeper Alexander Brems felt it was an intense game, but the most important part for him was having support from his family members on “Senior Night.”
“It was a very beautiful night. I had my parents fly in from Denmark and a lot of other parents came from other countries. It was beautiful,” Brems said.
The men’s soccer team is now 13-0-1 after beating the Tritons.
Head Coach Chris Chamides said the senior players will be missed, but they still have the rest of the season to look forward to.
“We are definitely going to miss them in the future. At the same time, we are excited about what they have contributed to date and what they contributed tonight, and we are excited about what’s coming in this next phase of the season,” Chamides said.
The Golden Eagles will start a two-game road trip up north against San Francisco State on Thursday.
