Fast Start Pushes Toros to Dominating 4-0 Win Over Point Loma Nazarene

Box Score

CARSON -- Newcomer Heriberto Ponce, Jr. made his Toro debut a memorable one as his first two touches resulted in the first two goals of his Cal State Dominguez Hills career, leading CSUDH to a dominating 4-0 win over the visiting Sea Lions in the season opener for both teams.

With the win, CSUDH remained unbeaten in its home openers for the fourth-straight year.

The quick-strike offense struck early as reigning CCAA Newcomer of the Year Aaron Salazar took a ball that newcomer Alejandro Covarrubias sent to PLNU keeper Carter Phillips' left, where Salazar one-touched his shot into the back of the net at the 3:19 mark.

That score doubled over 20 minutes later as Salazar became a distributor, taking a Mario Romero feed and finding Ponce for his first goal of the night, a quick one-touch past Phillips for a 2-0 lead.

Covarrubias then took his turn to score as he sent a free kick through a quintet of Sea Lions in the 34th minute, before Ponce completed the rout with his second score of the day with under five minutes left in the half.

That was plenty for a stingy Toro defense that allowed just eight shots on the night, with two on goal. Conversely, the Toros took 20 shots, with four of the 13 on goal finding paydirt.

With the shutout win, keeper Markus Dickerson notched his 40th career win, bringing him to just four wins away from tying former keeper Kyle Polak for the most wins in CSUDH history.

CSUDH looks to make it two-straight on Saturday in a primetime match-up at Azusa Pacific.

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