SAN DIEGO – It had been 663 days since the Cal State Dominguez Hills men's soccer team heard the final whistle of an official match. On Thursday afternoon, the Toros heard that final whistle for the first time since then and it resulted a 1-0 season-opening win over host Point Loma. The match also marked the first contest of any Toros Athletics contest since March 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic canceled the remainder of the 2019-20 and the entire 2020-21 seasons.
While there are many new faces on
Eddie Soto's third edition of the program, two familiar ones were factors to the win. In the 52
nd minute, the Toros launched a free kick into the box where a battle for control of the loose ball found the foot of senior
Josue Cartagena, who passed it to the top of the box for fellow senior
Roberto Rivera to make the chip shot that found its way into the back of the net.
The Toros took a dozen shots throughout the match, four of which went directly to the goal. Newcomer
Dylan De Baldo had to only stop two of Point Loma's five total shots to earn both the win and shutout for his Toro debut.
Dominguez Hills' five-match tour against the PacWest Conference continues Wednesday at Biola. Kickoff in La Mirada is at 7 p.m.
