SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. -In Thursday's contest, the Golden Eagles were on the road against the Cal State San Bernardino Coyotes in the fourth game of the season.
At the start of the first half, both teams were playing a stellar defensive game. While the Golden Eagles looked like they had a defensive mindset to start the game, more and more of the field started to open up as the first half of play went on. This created potential opportunities for the Golden Eagles to score on offense while not straying too far away from their defensive mindset.
With just about five minutes left to go in the first half, sophomore defender #3 Ryan Smith found the back of the goal for his first goal of the season, making it a 1-0 contest in the 40th minute. The Coyotes looked to respond back before the half ended, and respond back they did, scoring a goal just two minutes after the Golden Eagles, ending the first half in tie score 1-1.
Coming back from the half, the Golden Eagles were on the attack straight out of the gates. With multiple corner kicks and shots on goal, the offense looked like it was clicking. The aggressiveness from the Golden Eagles paid off because they were awarded a penalty kick in the 58th minute of the game.
The team made the decision to put veteran defender and senior #6 Tyler Oakson in charge of the important PK. Oakson lined himself up, shot and then scored the second goal for the Golden Eagles, making it 2-1. This is Oakson's second goal of the season for the senior.
Being ahead in the contest, the Golden Eagles eased off on the offensive side and really started to pack the field in on defense, making it almost impossible for the Coyotes to get past them for nearly 20 minutes. Entering the 74th minute of the game the Golden Eagles were still holding off the offensive attack until one pass flew over the defenders to find #11 Brian Castillo to put the score at 2-2.
Trying to adjust to the new score, head coach Chris Gould made some substitutions in the 80th minute putting in #7 Leo Sanchez, #15 Jahir Sandoval, and #11 Jonathan Moreno to try and get the offense started back up again.
Even with those new substitutions in, the Coyotes took advantage of the Golden Eagles transition defense and scored the game-winning goal in the 82nd minute by #9 Nicklaus Sullivan. The game ended with a score of 2-3 despite the Golden Eagles striking first in both the first and second halves.
For more men's soccer action, watch them back in action in their last non conference game at home this upcoming Wednesday, Sept 20, at 6:30 PM against the APU cougars.
For the full CUI men's soccer schedule CLICK HERE
