2021 Cal State LA Men's Soccer – Season Summary
 
LOS ANGELES -- Cal State LA's men's soccer team finished what it started in 2021 by capturing the program's first-ever NCAA Division II championship and, a few days after the celebration, the Golden Eagles were welcoming a new head coach to carry the program forward.

The Golden Eagles made history when they beat Charleston (W.V.), 1-0, in chilly Colorado, to win the national championship and complete a stunning sweep of titles that started at the conference level, continued through the regional level and culminated with a pair of defensive masterpieces in the semifinal and final matches. Cal State LA became the first West Coast team to win the national title in men's soccer since 2008 and the Golden Eagles brought home the first national title in a team sport to Cal State LA since 1981.

On the heels of the historic season, Chris Chamides left Cal State LA to become the women's soccer head coach at Loyola Marymount and Michael Erush, the program's No. 1 assistant for the past three years, was promoted to head coach. 

The awards were plentiful for the Golden Eagles as you'd expect for a national champion. Chamides, Erush, Dallas Jaussi, Michael Haswell and Omar Zeenni were named the National Coaching Staff of the Year by the United Soccer Coaches. Star defender Morten Bjoershol was named the NCAA Division II Player of the Year, marking the second straight season a Cal State LA player had taken top honors. Goalkeeper Alexander Brems was the National Player of the Year in 2019.

Chamides was named the CCAA Coach of the Year, Bjoershol was the CCAA Defensive Player of the Year, Alvaro Unanua was the CCAA Goalkeeper of the Year and Carl Olsen was the CCAA Freshman of the Year after the Golden Eagles dominated conference play for a second straight season. Cal State LA won the regular-season title with a 10-0-1 record and also won the conference tournament title, becoming the first conference school to sweep both titles since 2016.

The Golden Eagles won the regular-season title in dramatic fashion, rallying from an early 1-0 deficit to take a 2-1 decision over Cal Poly Pomona on goals by Gonzalo Talavera and Aiden Wait on the final day of conference play in University Stadium. That secured the second straight regular-season title and the eighth overall in program history for Cal State LA.

Cal State LA then hosted the conference tournament for the first time and won that title as well, beating Cal State Dominguez Hills, 4-2, in a semifinal match and Cal Poly Pomona, 3-1, in the title contest. Goals by Carl Solli, Anton Oloffson and Lucas Rosales staked the Golden Eagles to a 3-0 lead in the title game.

Cal State LA then also successfully defended its Super Region 4 title and hosted the first two weeks of the NCAA playoffs for a second straight season. The Golden Eagles, after a first-round bye, beat Colorado State Pueblo, 2-1, after taking a 2-0 lead on goals by Talavera and Jorge Orellana. Cal State LA then survived quite a battle with Colorado Mesa in the third round, prevailing 2-1 in overtime. After falling behind, 1-0, the Golden Eagles got a game-tying penalty kick goal by Talavera just before halftime and won the game on a beautiful sequence that culminated with a goal by Gerard Hernando after assists from David Elizaga and Solli in the third minute of overtime.

That set up a fourth meeting between Cal State LA and Cal Poly Pomona in the Super Region 4 title match and the Golden Eagles prevailed, 1-0, on a second-half goal  by Elizaga and another outstanding outing from Unanua.

Cal State LA earned the No. 1 seed for the second straight season in the Final Four and rode its defense and some sensational goalkeeping from Unanua to the championship. The Golden Eagles and No. 4 seed Nova Southeastern battled to a 0-0 draw through regulation and two overtime periods. Unanua then stood tall to lead the Golden Eagles in the ensuing penalty-kick shootout. After a pair of misses left Cal State LA trailing 1-0 and in danger of falling behind 2-0, Unanua made three straight incredible saves to lift his team, including an amazing save with his leg on the third stop that put the Golden Eagles in position to advance. Hernando, Talavera and Jeppe Paulsen converted on their tries with Paulsen's make sending the Golden Eagles to the title match.

The 2021 championship was a rematch between 2019 finalists only this time with a twist. Unanua, who was with Charleston in 2019 and led that team to the national crown, was with Cal State LA this time around. An early goal by Simon Johansen was all the Golden Eagles needed to secure a 1-0 title. That gave Unanua back-to-back national titles with two different teams and Cal State LA its historic first national crown.

Bjoershol, Unanua and Elizaga earned All-America honors for the Golden Eagles, while those three along with Talavera earned All-West Region accolades. That quartet plus Jorge Orellana earned All-CCAA honors for the Golden Eagles.

Cal State LA also claimed a major academic award as Arvine Esteva earned the CCAA's Elite 13 award for men's soccer after having the highest GPA among all student-athletes at the conference tournament site. That's the third time in five years Cal State LA has claimed the top academic award for men's soccer.

 Cal State LA has advanced to the NCAA playoffs in nine of the past 10 years and qualified for the CCAA Tournament for a 10th straight season.

Cal State LA Men's Soccer
2021 Overall Record: 18-2-3. CCAA Record: 10-0-1, 31 points
2021 CCAA Regular-Season Champions
2021 CCAA Tournament Champions
2021 Super Region 4 Champions
2021 NCAA Division II Champions
Final Regional Ranking: 1
Final National Ranking: 1
United Soccer Coaches Player of the Year: Morten Bjoershol
United Soccer Coaches National Staff of the Year: Chris Chamides, Michael Erush, Dallas Jaussi, Michael Haswell, Omar Zeenni
United Soccer Coaches All-America: Morten Bjoershol (D), 1st team; Alvaro Unanua (GK), 2nd team
D2CCA All-America: Morten Bjoershol (D), 1^st team; Alvaro Unanua (GK), 2nd team; David Elizaga (MF), Jr., 3^rd team
United Soccer Coaches All-West Region: Morten Bjoershol (D), 1^st team; David Elizaga (MF), 1st team; Alvaro Unanua (GK) first team; Gonzalo Talavera (D), 1st team
D2CCA All-West Region: Morten Bjoershol (D), 1^st team; David Elizaga (MF), 1^st team; Alvaro Unanua (GK), 1st team; Gonzalo Talavera (D), 1st team
D2CCA West Region Player of the Year: Morten Bjoershol
CCAA Defender of the Year: Morten Bjoershol
CCAA Goalkeeper of the Year: Alvaro Unanua
CCAA Freshman of the Year: Carl Olsen
CCAA Coach of the Year: Chris Chamides
All-CCAA: Morten Bjoershol (D) 1^st team; Alvaro Unanua (GK) 1st team; David Elizaga (MF) 1st team; Gonzalo Talavera (D) 1st team; Jorge Orellana (MF) 2nd team
CCAA Championships All-Tournament Team: David Elizaga (Offensive MVP), Alvaro Unanua (Defensive MVP), Carl Solli, Gonzalo Talavera, Carl Olsen, Morten Bjoershol
NCAA Championships All-Tournament Team: Simon Johansen (Offensive MVP), Gonzalo Talavera (Defensive MVP), Alvaro Unanua, Carl Solli, Gerard Hernando
CCAA Elite 13 Academic Award: Arvine Esteva
2021 CCAA Fall All-Academic Team: Jose Covarrubias, David Elizaga, Arvine Esteva, Manual Garcia, Simon Johansen, Anton OIofsson, Lucas Rosales, Carl Solli
2021-22 CCAA All-Academic: TBA