HAYWARD -- Cal State LA's men's soccer team found itself in a two-goal hole for the first time this season, but the Golden Eagles dug their way out for a dramatic victory.
The Golden Eagles scored a pair of goals in the final 10 minutes of regulation to pull out a 3-2 win over Cal State East Bay on Saturday in the California Collegiate Athletic Association finale. Cal State LA (11-3-2, 8-3-1 CCAA) completed the regular season in third place in the conference with 25 points and will host a first-round CCAA Championship Tournament game on Tuesday at 7 p.m. against No. 6 seed UC San Diego. No. 4 seed Stanislaus State will host No. 5 seed Sonoma State in the other first-round match. Cal State Dominguez Hills (No. 1 seed) and Cal Poly Pomona (No. 2 seed) earned first-round byes. The conference semi-finals and finals will be hosted by Cal Poly Pomona.
Cal State LA, which began the week ranked No. 5 in the NCAA West Region, also bolstered its resume this week with road wins at No. 4 Stanislaus State and Cal State East Bay. The Golden Eagles are the defending NCAA Division II West Region champs.
The Golden Eagles had allowed only eight goals all season entering Saturday's game against Cal State East Bay (5-12, 3-9 CCAA), but the Pioneers stunned the Golden Eagles with a pair of goals in the first 28 minutes to take an early lead. The Golden Eagles were able to make it 2-1 by halftime on a goal by
Marvin Iskra and then scored twice late in the game on goals by
Joshua Cortez and
Steven Eberle to win the game.
Cal State East Bay finished with an 11-10 advantage in shots and the Golden Eagles had a slim 3-2 edge in corner kicks.
Cal State East Bay took the lead on a goal by Jeremy Romero in the 13th minute with assists from Chris Gaitan and Marco Nieves. The Pioneers then made it 2-0 in the 28th minute with a goal from Michael Paiva.
The Golden Eagles began their comeback in the 35th minute when
Tobias Tobrant stole the ball, dribbled to the Cal State East Bay end line and sent a centering pass to Iskra, who knocked it in for his third goal of the season.
Cal State LA finally evened the game in the 82nd minute on the fifth goal of the season from Cortez.
Severin Porschen got the assist.
Eberle then converted the game-winner in the 86th minute with a header following a free kick into the box from
Kaan Gultoprak.
Anthony Perez made four saves in goal for the Golden Eagles, while Adrian Topete made one save for the Pioneers.
Eberle had a team-high three shots for the Golden Eagles, while Iskra had two shots.
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