Soccer Teams Fall Just Short in Opener
August 31, 2006   Updated

Complete Box Scores
Men        Women

In their first ever regular season games, both CSUSM's women's and men's soccer teams took Cal Baptist to overtime, but came up just short in the end.

The Cougar women held steady for all 90 regulation minutes, playing rock-solid defense against the 23rd-ranked Lancers. Despite being out-shot nearly 3-to-1, the Lady Cougars confused and frustrated the Lancers' offense for most of the game.

Locked in a scoreless tie heading into overtime, Cal Baptist finally broke through with a goal by Sarai Stamper. Alyssa Moore and Joanna Idom added tallies soon-after, making the final score a misleading 3-0.

Updated: The ruling as stated in a press release received, states: "In accordance with overtime procedures stated in the NCAA Rulebook, Rule 7, Section 1a., 'for regular season games, two sudden-victory overtime periods of 10 minutes each shall be played,' the officials should have ended the game when the first overtime goal was scored."

The Cougar men also dropped a tough match, losing 3-2 in overtime. Cal Baptist struck first, with Fashinu Ron-Nezbeth beating Cougar goalkeeper Trent Painter on a long shot in the 16th minute. CSUSM equalized early in the second half, as Notre Dame transfer Ben Crouse scored the first goal in the program's history on a 49th-minute header from a Troy Skomra throw-in.

After Cal Baptist re-took the lead on a Ruiz-Esparza goal, CSUSM's Bradley Seidenglanz took little time to tie it back up, scoring just three minutes later in the 78th minute. Early in overtime, however, the Lancers' Christian Diaz headed in the eventual game-winner.

Both the Cougar men's and women's teams are now 0-1 on the season. Coach Ron Pulvers was encouraged by the women's effort against a very good Cal Baptist team, though he recognizes that it will take a higher level of fitness to win matches like that. Pulvers was frustrated with the men, who were "not mentally prepared to compete."

Next on the schedule is a home match again Cal Poly Pomona - the first home intercollegiate sporting event in the history of Cal State San Marcos. Entry to the games is free, with the women kicking off at 3:00 PM and the men starting at 5:30.