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Box Score

TURLOCK -- Cal State L.A.'s men's soccer team turned in a championship performance Sunday that included a little bit of everything.

The Golden Eagles struck for a pair of first-half goals, played suffocating defense and posted an impressive 2-0 victory over Chico State to win the California Collegiate Athletic Association championship. The Golden Eagles captured their first CCAA championship since 1992 and fifth in program history and won their first conference title since the CCAA initiated a conference tournament to decide its champion in 1999.

Cal State L.A. (14-1-5) stretched its unbeaten streak to 12 with the victory. The Golden Eagles are 9-0-3 over their last 12 games. Cal State L.A. also snapped a seven-match winning streak by Chico State, which was the CCAA North Division champs.

The Golden Eagles will now await the announcement of the NCAA Championships tournament field that will be announced on Monday. The top four teams in the West Region will advance to the 32-team NCAA Tournament field. Cal State L.A. was seeded third entering the weekend and posted wins over No. 2 Chico State and No. 6 Cal State Stanislaus. Seattle Pacific of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference was the No. 1 seed entering the week.

Cal State L.A. got first-half goals from Derek Faulkner and Antti Arvola to take early control of the game. Both goals came courtesy of long Jason Swope throw-ins. Cal State L.A.'s back line of defenders Taylor Rivas, Marc Hess, Andy Lopez and Dane Nielsen were outstanding in thwarting Chico State's high-powered offense.

Although Chico State ended up with a 16-6 advantage in shots, the statistical edge was a bit misleading. Only four shots were on goal and all four came in the second half while Cal State L.A. was leading, 2-0. Waleed Cassis made four saves for the Golden Eagles, including a pair of outstanding stops in the second half to preserve the shutout.

Swope had a hand in both Cal State L.A. goals, literally. He sent a long throw-in to the near post in the fourth minute and, after the ball was flicked toward the back of the box, Faulkner raced up and drilled a left-footed shot inside the far post for his fourth goal of the season.

Arvola made it 2-0 after another nicely-placed throw-in by Swope in the 40th minute. This time, Faulkner battled with a defender as the ball went into the box and a Chico State defender missed while trying to kick the ball away. Arvola was there to pounce and knocked a shot to the far post for the game's second goal.

Cal State L.A. had two other prime chances in the first half just miss before taking the 2-0 lead. Nicolas Assad sent a sliding shot just wide of the near post and Faulkner drilled a shot off the crossbar a few minutes before Arvola's goal.

Cassis made a nice diving save of a hard shot by Chico State's Ferid Celosmanovic that was deflected on the way in. Faulkner was able to clear away the rebound in the 70th minute. Micah Miranda had a good chance for the Wildcats go just wide in the 78th minute and Cassis made a diving save of a bid by Chris Akwaja in the 84th minute.

Cal State L.A. was making its fifth CCAA Championship Tournament appearance, all in the past six years. The Golden Eagles also reached the title game in 2006, but suffered first-round losses in 2007, 2008 and 2009.

Swope was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Offensive Player, Rivas was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Defensive Player and they joined Sergio Cedano, Cassis, Arvola and Faulkner on the All-Tournament team.

2011 CCAA All-Tournament Team
Kyle Cadigan (Cal State Stanislaus)
Juan Alvarez (Cal State Stanislaus)
Chris Akwaja (Chico State)
Micah Miranda (Chico State)
Mike Janjigian (Chico State)
Waleed Cassis (Cal State L.A.)
Sergio Cedano (Cal State L.A.)
Antti Arvola (Cal State L.A.)
Derek Faulkner (Cal State L.A.)
Taylor Rivas (Cal State L.A.)
Jason Swope (Cal State L.A.)

Most Oustanding Defensive Player: Taylor Rivas (Cal State L.A.)
Most Outstanding Offensive Player: Jason Swope (Cal State L.A.)