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Box Score
The Game in
Pictures
Less than 24 hours after
dispatching Chapman 3-0, the Cougar men put forth another spirited
effort on Saturday, defeating Southern Wesleyan by a score of 2-0.
It was a terrific atmosphere for the squad’s final home game of the
season, and the team responded very well. Southern Wesleyan, which
came all the way from South Carolina, was greeted by the largest and
rowdiest Cougar crowd of the season. From coming up with impromptu
chants to protesting every call against CSUSM to singing "Barbie
Girl" every time a certain Southern Wesleyan player touched the
ball, the crowd was involved in the game from the opening kickoff.
And so were the Cougars. The team set the tone early, running what
appeared to be a set play off the kickoff and generating two
dangerous opportunities. CSUSM controlled the game’s pace from start
to finish; and though they let Southern Wesleyan stick around a
little longer than Coach Ron Pulvers would have liked, he was happy
with the performance.
“Overall, I’m very, very pleased with the effort,” commented Pulvers.
“We had some chances we didn’t convert, but we responded very well
emotionally and physically to the situation.”
The best player on the field was arguably Felix Gonzalez-Dalmas, the
Cougars’ highly-touted transfer who has become more and more
involved in the offense as the season has progressed. Due in large
part to a change in formation – from the team’s original 4-4-2 to
the 4-5-1 (with Gonzalez-Dalmas as the lone forward) – today and
yesterday’s games have been by far the best of his brief Cougar
career.
“Felix was just great last night and today,” noted Coach Pulvers.
“Running a 4-5-1 allows him more freedom to make an impact, and he’s
doing that in a lot of ways.”
Despite establishing control of the game early on, it appeared the
Cougars would not be able to break the scoreless tie before
halftime. With the score 0-0 in stoppage time, CSUSM surged forward,
nearly scoring on a corner kick. That led to another corner kick,
which midfielder Chris Wyatt struck beautifully into the box, and
Troy Skomra volleyed into the net.
The great pass wasn’t Wyatt’s only contribution of the game; he was
extremely active from start to finish, and appeared to be
“everywhere on the field,” according to Coach Pulvers.
CSUSM’s midfield as a whole was very solid on the day, rarely
allowing Southern Wesleyan to get through. And when they did, the
Cougar defense was there. Led by center backs Evan Cohorst and Brian
Luhrs, the Cougar back line only allowed a couple of scoring chances
throughout the ninety minutes.
With the game in the Cougars’ grasp in the 90th minute, Gonzalez-Dalmas
would cap it off with a goal of his own. He got the ball deep in
Southern Wesleyan’s zone, worked his way through the two defenders
in front of him to find a shred of open space, and chipped the ball
high over the helpless keeper. The ball came down on the goal line
and rolled into the net, clinching the 2-0 victory for the Cougars.
Now 6-8 on the season with two games remaining, the goal for the
squad is to get to .500 and build momentum for next season. They’ll
be in action next on October 19th at Cal State San Bernardino.
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