Defending Champions Win 8th-Straight in 2-0 Win at UC San Diego to Close Regular Season

Box Score

LA JOLLA, Calif. -- The defending national champions closed the 2009 regular season with its eighth-straight win and fourth-consecutive shutout after taking a 2-0 decision over host UC San Diego on its senior day, using an Andrew Marinez goal in the 73rd minute for the eventual game-winner. CSUDH now readies for the upcoming CCAA Championship Tournament next week against Cal State San Bernardino on Friday at 4:30 pm.

The Tritons managed to keep the CSUDH offense at bay through the early going as the two squads entered halftime tied at 0-0. The Toros struck though in the 73rd and 81st minutes with scores from Marinez and Scott Mariano.

Freshman forward Evan Walker put together an early chance for UCSD. With roughly 14 minutes played, Walker went up for a header inside the box with CSUDH freshman goalkeeper Markus Dickerson charging out of the net to punch the ball away. Walker's head earned contact first but the attempt sailed wide.

Four minutes later, the Toros rallied for their own scoring chance. With Hiram Rangel placing a through ball to atop the 18, Mariano tried to lift the ball over an approaching Akman. The Triton keeper batted the ball and then stopped a sliding rebound chance by Mariano to keep the match scoreless.

Out of the halftime break, the UCSD offense used strong passing to put more pressure on Dickerson. Gressard placed a long pass over the CSUDH backline that found Sawyer charging up the left side. A one-timer shot off Sawyer's left foot was saved by Dickerson though to stop the rush.

The Toros broke the deadlock at the 72:43 mark with Brian Alvarez slipping a ball to the left of the box that found Marinez, who then made a move on his defender to the right and shot over Akman from about 14 yards out.

Less than eight minutes later, CSUDH tallied its second score of the match. After a leading pass from Alex Munoz, Mariano took on his defender on the left side of the box and shot a low line drive into the bottom of the net from about 12 yards away to give the Toros a 2-0 advantage.

The Toros, who improved to 14-5-1, 11-4-1 CCAA, take on the Coyotes on Friday, looking to pick up their first win in the third meeting between the two teams after dropping the regular season contests by identical 1-0 scores.

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