Running With The Bulls

Saturday, September 6

Carson, CA

7:00 PM

California Baptist University

0-1-1

Cal State Dominguez Hills

1-0-1

OT 2

California Baptist

Cal State Dominguez

9/7/2014 4:39:00 AM | Men's Soccer

Box Score

CARSON, Calif. --- After a shaky start Saturday evening, California Baptist University battled back to even the game at 1-1, but ultimately fell 2-1 in overtime to Cal State Dominguez Hills.

"It's really tough to play the way you want to play when you start out the way we did and give up a goal you should never give up," said head coach Gregg Schroeder. "Credit to the guys for fighting and clawing their way back into the game."

The Lancers sit 0-1-1 on the season, while the Toros improve to 1-0-1 with their first win of the young season.

CBU gave up a quick, uncharacteristic goal in the third minute as Pedro Velasquez took advantage of a costly Lancer defensive hiccup to put CSUDH up 1-0. A battle commenced as both teams got physical looking to control tempo of the game.

Schroeder's halftime talk seemed to work as the Lancers' play turned drastically around in the second half. CBU went from being outshot 6-to-3 in the first frame to holding a 12-8 shot advantage over the Toros in the second.

"We'll need to work on a few things in terms of the way we like to keep the ball and move the ball," said Schroeder. "In the first half we got a little frantic when we didn't need to. The second half was a lot better. We figured ourselves out and how we wanted to play and were able to keep ahold of the ball for a while."

With 30 minutes left in the game, the Lancers had plenty of time to score an equalizer, but intensity increased as CBU pressed more and more on the Toro defense.

"We absolutely turned it around in the second half and had the run of play," said Schroeder. "It was a good response, however, like I said, it's difficult to play the way you want to play when you start out behind the eight ball."

Aidan Apodaca provided a spark off the bench and gave CBU a great chance in the 72nd minute. Dominic Escalera took the ball down to the byline and snuck a cross past a Toro defender to find Apodaca at the penalty spot. Apodaca showcased his athleticism to get a side bicycle kick on frame, but a CSUDH defender stepped in front to block the shot.

Ten minutes later, however, the Lancers broke through. Apodaca found himself in a one-on-one rundown with the Toro goalkeeper with Dylan Roberts diving to make the stop. Roberts took Apodaca down with him, forcing the referee to call a penalty kick. Chris Gaitan converted the penalty with ease, evening the game at 1-1.

"Aidan is quick and powerful," said Schroeder. "He puts himself in offensive positions and he showed by just running and reading the game well what that can do for the entirety of the team. By him making that 15 extra yard burst, sparked everyone on the team. In my opinion, he had a massive effect on changing the momentum for us."

CBU came alive and created chances for the go-ahead goal in the last five minutes off shots from Ike Akubuilo and Josh Robinson, but the Toro defense held on to force extra time.

"I thought Ike played exceptional," said Schroeder. "He's near his hometown [of Torrance] and he didn't get to start so I think that put a little bit of a burn in his backside. He went on and played the remainder of the game fantastic."

CSUDH took the only two shots in the golden goal overtime period, capitalizing in the 99th minute to win the game 2-1.

The Lancers face more California Collegiate Athletic Association teams as they head north to Sonoma State (Sept. 11) and Cal State Stanislaus (Sept. 13) before returing back home on Sept. 20 to host Cal Poly Pomona at 3:30 p.m.