The Game in Pictures:  Men's Soccer vs. Southern Wesleyan
October 13, 2007

(All pics taken by Tyler Curtis; commentary by Kyle Trembley)
 

Welcome to the Mangrum Track & Soccer Field!  It's a festive atmosphere (as evidenced by the balloons) for Saturday's men's soccer game - the final home game of the season for the Cougar men.

Hunter Steakhouse catered the pre-game Alumni tailgate, and as such...

There was a nice turnout!

From left to right: Athletics Director Dr. Steve Nichols, Assistant Athletics Director Debbie Dale, and Associate Athletics Director for Development Jennifer Milo.  That's a lot of titles.  It's a virtual who's who of Cougar Athletics!

Rain or shine, weekday or weekend, the Cougar bookstore is out supporting CSUSM Athletics - and selling sweatshirts and teddy bears!

Southern Wesleyan warming up.  At this point, it's unclear if they knew that they were coming all the way from South Carolina just to get razzed for 90 minutes by Cougar fans.

The Cougars warm up.  I believe the crowd had already started the "Danny Vasquez" chants by now.

Team captains for both sides meet with the referees just prior to kickoff.  This is alternatively known as the "suck up to the ref so he won't call fouls on you" meeting.

It's a packed house!  Standing room only (as evidenced by the gentleman on the left)

CSUSM brought the pressure early and often.  In this pic, CSUSM's Curtis Marcikic (#9) looks on hoping that the opposing keeper would misplay a pass back to him by his own defense.  Unfortunately, he would not.

It was a physical contest from start to finish.  Here's just one of Southern Wesleyan's 25 fouls on the day.

The Cougars nearly put one home, but Southern Wesleyan's keeper leaps high to prevent not one but two headers.

Cougar keeper Trent Painter didn't have too much to do on Saturday, facing just one shot on goal. 

Painter's easy day was due to great play by the Cougar defense and midfield.  Here, speedy freshman defender Greg Reese (#20) prepares to play the ball.  Greg ran the L.A. marathon in 4 hours and 12 minutes.  If there was an L.A. 2-mile run, I'm not sure if I could finish in 4 hours and 12 minutes.

More from the Cougars' midfield and defense.  Something tells me that #10 isn't getting past a sliding Troy Skomra (#12)

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Much to the crowd's delight, Danny Vasquez (#8) saw plenty of playing time.

Felix-Gonzalez Dalmas (#10) was all over the field on Saturday.  Here, he prepares to rocket a free kick into the box - but how will he ever kick it past the 1-man wall employed by Southern Wesleyan?!

Gooooooooooooooooaaaaaaaallll!!  Skomra (somewhere in there) knocks in a corner from Gonzalez-Dalmas to make it 1-0 Cougars.

And the crowd goes wild!

After going wild, the crowd has time to pose for a picture.

Gonzalez-Dalmas picks up right where he left off as the second half starts.  The defender in this shot doesn't stand much of a chance - headband or not.

Vasquez playing some hard-nosed defense.  He got all ball!

Midfielder Chris Wyatt (left - #17) and defender Evan Cohorst (right - #18) both played excellent games - though the crowd is still yet to come up with a chant for them.

Coaches Ron Pulvers, Bobby Renneisen, and Davy Phillips look on.  In coaching, there can't be many things more worrying than holding just a 1-0 lead late in a game that your team has dominated.  This is reflected in their posture.

So much for worrying!  In the final minutes, Gonzalez-Dalmas sizes up two defenders...

And chips his shot over the keeper into the net!  Not pictured:  the keeper. 

The Cougars celebrate the goal and the win.  Now 6-8 on the season, the team has a real chance to get to .500 after it looked all but impossible early on.  Thanks to all the fans who were at the game for creating a great atmosphere, and thanks to everyone reading this for supporting our team.  Go Cougars!